Belmont Capital LLC Has $47.48 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Belmont Capital LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 110,331 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 16,384 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 7.9% of Belmont Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Belmont Capital LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $47,476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. First National Bank Sioux Falls lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,834,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. BCK Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant's stock worth $582,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,309,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,255 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,455,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 6,986 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,108,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $2.65 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $444.06. 15,539,488 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,490,811. The stock has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $431.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $425.82. 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 fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % 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 quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.