Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Trimmed by Navellier & Associates Inc.

Navellier & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,101 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,702 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 1.9% of Navellier & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $447.24 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $431.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $425.08. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Microsoft from $548.00 to $540.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.