Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Cuts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,101 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,518 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.0% of Kesler Norman & Wride LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant's stock worth $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after buying an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant's stock worth $15,426,767,000 after buying an additional 97,075 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,768,771,000 after buying an additional 1,563,533 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,587,576,000 after acquiring an additional 45,220 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. Three 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 currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $4.13 on Friday, hitting $417.00. 24,814,626 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,244,906. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $421.94 and a 200 day moving average of $426.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $362.90 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. 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. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.