Front Street Capital Management Inc. Sells 30 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Front Street Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,878 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 30 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.9% of Front Street Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Front Street Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after buying an additional 3,078,099 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,642,931,000 after buying an additional 2,744,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth $846,072,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7 %

Microsoft stock opened at $422.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $360.36 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $421.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $424.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.75%.

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.