Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Capital Performance Advisors LLP's 9th Largest Position

Capital Performance Advisors LLP lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,053 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,329 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.0% of Capital Performance Advisors LLP's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Capital Performance Advisors LLP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,477,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 40.0% in the third quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC now owns 1,757 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $756,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC now owns 44,482 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $19,140,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the third quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 15,501 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,674,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. now owns 21,670 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,326,000 after buying an additional 692 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the third quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 12,962 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,433,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $418.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $380.38 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $428.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $427.53.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $511.62.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.