Black Swift Group LLC Decreases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Black Swift Group LLC cut its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 50.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,602 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,757 shares during the quarter. Black Swift Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,980,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

MSFT stock traded up $4.45 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $429.03. 26,146,013 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,227,436. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $429.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.14. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $509.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $512.93.

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.