Confluence Investment Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Confluence Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 319,220 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,094 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.8% of Confluence Investment Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Confluence Investment Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $137,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Seed Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% in the second quarter. Seed Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,162 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,754,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 15.2% during the second quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 16,125 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,207,000 after buying an additional 2,131 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 12,206 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,455,000 after buying an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Midwest Financial Group LLC now owns 9,517 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,254,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $424.56 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $371.19 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company's 50-day moving average price is $428.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $427.59. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The business's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup dropped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $511.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last three months. 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.