Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Trimmed by Makena Capital Management LLC

Makena Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 48,420 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,643 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 5.0% of Makena Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Makena Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in Microsoft by 47,196.6% in 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 stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in 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 boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at $846,072,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.2 %

MSFT stock opened at $423.03 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $421.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $425.32. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. 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 the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.