Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Lowered by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,095,335 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,197,749 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 4.8% of Clearbridge Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned approximately 0.18% of Microsoft worth $5,852,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd 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. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $415.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $422.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.