Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd Trims Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 57.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,074 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 9,567 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.0% of Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. First National Bank Sioux Falls lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,834,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. BCK Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Massachusetts Wealth Management increased 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 worth $4,309,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,255 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,455,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 owns 117,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $512.93.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $0.53 on Tuesday, reaching $428.50. The company had a trading volume of 25,848,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,069,188. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90. The company's fifty day moving average is $429.54 and its 200 day moving average is $425.92. 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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.