Stonebridge Capital Management Inc. Has $22.59 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Stonebridge Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,494 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 4,257 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 9.0% of Stonebridge Capital Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Stonebridge Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,588,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth about $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant's stock worth $281,035,506,000 after buying an additional 3,078,099 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in Microsoft by 77.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,642,931,000 after buying an additional 2,744,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $846,072,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

Microsoft stock opened at $414.17 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $422.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $426.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Microsoft's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.75%.

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.