Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 1,514 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Meritage Portfolio Management lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 188,272 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,514 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 5.0% of Meritage Portfolio Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Meritage Portfolio Management's holdings in Microsoft were worth $81,014,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake 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. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 117,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $10.36 on Wednesday, reaching $426.03. The company had a trading volume of 8,688,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,715,867. The company's fifty day moving average is $429.08 and its 200-day moving average is $426.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $384.81 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 27.39%.

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.