Dean Investment Associates LLC Sells 133 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Dean Investment Associates LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,016 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $466,000. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the third quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 141,799 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $61,016,000 after buying an additional 2,120 shares during the period. Mosaic Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.3% in the third quarter. Mosaic Financial Group LLC now owns 18,856 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,114,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares in the last quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the third quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 28,162 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,118,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tenere Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.4% in the third quarter. Tenere Capital LLC now owns 54,833 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,595,000 after purchasing an additional 2,832 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.5 %

MSFT opened at $409.75 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $431.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $423.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.99, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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 stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company 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.