Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Lifted by GenTrust LLC

GenTrust LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 51.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,838 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,728 shares during the period. GenTrust LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,384,547 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,004,673,000 after purchasing an additional 31,945 shares during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 662,000 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $284,859,000 after purchasing an additional 87,434 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth $113,488,000. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth about $73,604,000. Finally, GM Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 53,456 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,002,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $442.33 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $432.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $425.03. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Microsoft from $548.00 to $540.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $512.66.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.