Portolan Capital Management LLC Purchases 238 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Portolan Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,538 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew 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 worth $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group reduced their price target on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $409.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $431.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $423.79. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $385.58 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

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.