Jensen Investment Management Inc. Sells 86,886 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Jensen Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,121,385 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 86,886 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 7.6% of Jensen Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Jensen Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $912,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. First National Bank Sioux Falls increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,834,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 913 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,309,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,255 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,455,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Mizuho increased their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $10.36 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $426.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,688,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,715,867. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $429.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.72. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $384.81 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business 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 company's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.