Counterweight Ventures LLC Has $5.28 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Counterweight Ventures LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 10.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,267 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 3.7% of Counterweight Ventures LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Counterweight Ventures LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Millennium Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.9% in the third quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 47,526 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,450,000 after buying an additional 6,860 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 22,575 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,714,000 after acquiring an additional 3,882 shares during the period. Second Half Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,353,000. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,213,587 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,673,706,000 after purchasing an additional 146,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth $753,299,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho raised their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6 %

Microsoft stock traded down $2.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $444.06. 15,539,488 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,490,811. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $431.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $425.54. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.