Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by HighVista Strategies LLC

HighVista Strategies LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 25.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,158 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,100 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.5% of HighVista Strategies LLC's holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. HighVista Strategies LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Bellevue Group AG grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant's stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 241.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant's stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MSFT traded down $2.89 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $422.54. The stock had a trading volume of 16,891,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,265,076. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. 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's fifty day simple moving average is $421.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $425.07. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $360.36 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. 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 posted $2.99 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $503.03.

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.