Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Boosted by GS Investments Inc.

GS Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,313 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.1% of GS Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. GS Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,019,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $447.24 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $431.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $425.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $548.00 to $540.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three equities 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $512.66.

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.