South Street Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

South Street Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 77,486 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,213 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.1% of South Street Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. South Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $33,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted 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 buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $509.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.93.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % 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 three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $428.50 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $429.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Microsoft 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.