Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Raises Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,876 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,388 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.6% of Sterling Investment Counsel LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $437.03. The stock had a trading volume of 21,883,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,589,182. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.06, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $426.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $428.26.

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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $508.46.

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.