Fiera Capital Corp Has $2.13 Billion Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Fiera Capital Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,771,560 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 576,030 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.7% of Fiera Capital Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Fiera Capital Corp owned 0.06% of Microsoft worth $2,132,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $204,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s 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 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 trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on MSFT shares. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $426.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.22, 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 quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $421.71 and a 200-day moving average of $425.43.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.75%.

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.