Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Harrell Investment Partners LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Harrell Investment Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,778 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 798 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 4.5% of Harrell Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Harrell Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,826,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. now owns 7,466 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,213,000 after purchasing an additional 1,480 shares during the period. Elk River Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Elk River Wealth Management LLC now owns 53,098 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $22,848,000 after purchasing an additional 742 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 121,747 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $52,388,000 after buying an additional 893 shares during the period. Affinity Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. Affinity Wealth Management LLC now owns 33,242 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,304,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 4.3% during the third quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,837 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,511,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total value of $1,077,175.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,203,211.24. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 212,931 shares of company stock worth $87,297,343 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

Microsoft stock opened at $430.98 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.56, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $420.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $426.55.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. 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 0.77%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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.