Castleview Partners LLC Decreases Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Castleview Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,227 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 554 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.5% of Castleview Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Castleview Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,612,000 after acquiring an additional 43,327 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467 shares during the last quarter. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC now owns 17,522 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,372,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 6,734,231 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,831,742,000 after acquiring an additional 66,768 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $447.27 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $364.13 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $424.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $427.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan 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 plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $505.43.

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.