Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Has $102.78 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 238,855 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,095 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.9% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $102,779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 78.8% in the third quarter. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC now owns 2,460 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,059,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares during the last quarter. Callan Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 37.6% in the 3rd quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 23,557 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,137,000 after purchasing an additional 6,438 shares during the period. Chapin Davis Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 41,086 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,680,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 19,407 shares of the software giant's stock worth $8,351,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Finally, Affinity Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the third quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,454 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,498,000 after buying an additional 754 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company's stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup reduced their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $4.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $417.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 24,814,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,244,906. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $362.90 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $421.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $426.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft's payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft Company 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.