Fiera Capital Corp Trims Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Fiera Capital Corp reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,609,729 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 161,831 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.0% of Fiera Capital Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Fiera Capital Corp owned about 0.06% of Microsoft worth $1,983,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during 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 period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % 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. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $418.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.57, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $428.83 and a 200 day moving average of $427.39. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $380.38 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company 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 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Company Profile

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.