Foster Group Inc. cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 33.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,124 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 7,491 shares during the quarter. Foster Group Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,508,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant's stock worth $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant's stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $192,515,000 after acquiring an additional 8,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% in the second quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $69,840,000 after acquiring an additional 5,176 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over 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 corporate insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group reduced their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley upped 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. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $503.03.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Microsoft
Microsoft Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $414.17 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap 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 1-year low of $362.90 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $422.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.05.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released 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. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for 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 firm's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The business 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. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.75%.
Microsoft Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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