Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 122,166 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,947 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 6.4% of L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $52,568,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 67.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after buying an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 31,648.5% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 128.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,160,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,412,656,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776,825 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents 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 valued at $17,383,892 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $439.33 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $366.50 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $3.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $427.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $428.58.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend 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.