Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Decatur Capital Management Inc.

Decatur Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 15.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,007 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 7,208 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 10.5% of Decatur Capital Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Decatur Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,809,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $2.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $408.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 22,671,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,297,973. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $429.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $423.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research 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 has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.96.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business's 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 $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540. Company 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.