Constitution Capital LLC Lowers Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Constitution Capital LLC decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 122,914 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 6,514 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 28.2% of Constitution Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Constitution Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $52,890,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the period. New Harbor Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $192,515,000 after purchasing an additional 8,290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $69,840,000 after acquiring an additional 5,176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 212,931 shares of company stock worth $87,297,343. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $430.98 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $420.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.55. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.77%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

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

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.