Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Cohen Investment Advisors LLC's 3rd Largest Position

Cohen Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,996 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,603 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.2% of Cohen Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,883,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant's stock worth $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 4,709 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,981,000 after buying an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.8% in the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 64,318 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $27,060,000 after acquiring an additional 13,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Colony Family Offices LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter worth $281,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $414.17 on Friday. 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 fifty day moving average of $422.21 and a 200-day moving average of $426.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.