Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 164,417 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,116 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.1% of Empowered Funds LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $70,749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in 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 during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant's stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT traded down $0.53 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $428.50. 25,848,817 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,069,188. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $429.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.92. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. 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 $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp upped their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $512.93.

Microsoft 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.