Metropolis Capital Ltd Increases Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Metropolis Capital Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 180.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 657,098 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 422,573 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 9.8% of Metropolis Capital Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Metropolis Capital Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $282,749,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,426,767,000 after acquiring an additional 97,075 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Microsoft by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,768,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,533 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,587,576,000 after purchasing an additional 45,220 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 11,462,919 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,822,679,000 after purchasing an additional 46,410 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen cut their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $505.43.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $451.59 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $425.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $427.76. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $366.50 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 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.