Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 14.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,456 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 1,666 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.9% of Legacy Capital Group California Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,767,000 after purchasing an additional 97,075 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,768,771,000 after buying an additional 1,563,533 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,587,576,000 after buying an additional 45,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %
NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $436.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $427.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.32. 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 12-month low of $366.50 and a 12-month high of $468.35.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company's quarterly 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. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.
Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $508.46.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Microsoft Company Profile
(
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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