STF Management LP Sells 2,307 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

STF Management LP reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,768 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,307 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 8.6% of STF Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. STF Management LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,456,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Towerpoint Wealth LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.1% in the first quarter. Towerpoint Wealth LLC now owns 8,526 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,587,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the first quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,779 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,425,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,961,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Lockerman Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Lockerman Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,081 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,717,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors now owns 8,240 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,467,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Argus boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $410.37 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.77 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company’s fifty day moving average is $420.69 and its 200-day moving average is $424.62.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.08 by $0.22. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.98 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid 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 boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.