Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Decatur Capital Management Inc.

Decatur Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 53,007 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,208 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 10.5% of Decatur Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Decatur Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,809,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 8.3% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 445,759 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $191,812,000 after purchasing an additional 34,261 shares in the last quarter. Castellan Group raised its stake in Microsoft by 5.2% in the third quarter. Castellan Group now owns 21,154 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 187.7% in the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 16,219 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,979,000 after purchasing an additional 10,581 shares in the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1,972.5% in the third quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC now owns 36,269 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,607,000 after purchasing an additional 34,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in Microsoft by 52.7% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 425,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $183,038,000 after acquiring an additional 146,725 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4 %

MSFT stock opened at $410.54 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $430.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $423.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. 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 is presently 26.73%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total value of $423,480.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,931,278.28. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 34,000 shares of company stock worth $14,333,540. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Microsoft

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.