Cullinan Associates Inc. Has $81.87 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cullinan Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 196,184 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,124 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.5% of Cullinan Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Cullinan Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $81,872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV now owns 25,917 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,904,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the third quarter. HWG Holdings LP now owns 53,689 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,102,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the third quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 46,082 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,829,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283 shares in the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,306 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 183,153 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $78,810,000 after buying an additional 12,870 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $508.46.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

MSFT stock opened at $436.60 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $366.50 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $427.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $428.42.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.