Granite Group Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Granite Group Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,998 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 168 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 4.1% of Granite Group Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Granite Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,454,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $200,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.95 on Friday. 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 $380.38 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $428.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $427.53. The company has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is 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.