Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 73,875 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 30 shares during the quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $33,018,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. New Harbor Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. True Link Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 296.7% in the first quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 19.0% in the second quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 81,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,427,000 after purchasing an additional 12,994 shares during the last quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the first quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 12,521 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,268,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. Finally, Leeward Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 15.8% in the first quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 35,610 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,982,000 after buying an additional 4,861 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $427.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $420.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $424.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $324.39 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

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.