CCLA Investment Management Sells 4,792 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

CCLA Investment Management reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 652,371 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,792 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.4% of CCLA Investment Management’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. CCLA Investment Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $274,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,763,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Truefg LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Truefg LLC now owns 1,241 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Redwood Financial Network Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,704 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,655,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total transaction of $1,077,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 53,852 shares in the company, valued at $23,203,211.24. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $408.25 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $425.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $423.04. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

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.