Parnassus Investments LLC Raises Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,213,587 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 146,265 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 5.7% of Parnassus Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Parnassus Investments LLC owned about 0.08% of Microsoft worth $2,673,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second 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 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $2.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $444.06. 15,539,488 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,490,811. The company has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $431.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $512.66.

About Microsoft

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.