Summerhill Capital Management lnc. Sells 1,164 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Summerhill Capital Management lnc. reduced its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,751 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,164 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 8.5% of Summerhill Capital Management lnc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Summerhill Capital Management lnc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,160,020,000 after purchasing an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Microsoft by 6.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,768,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,533 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,587,576,000 after purchasing an additional 45,220 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,640,068 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,096,428,000 after acquiring an additional 360,171 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $410.37 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.77 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $420.69 and a 200-day moving average of $424.55. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.08 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 35.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 24.75%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.