Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Townsquare Capital LLC's 4th Largest Position

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 460,052 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 11,574 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.4% of Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $197,960,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Baldwin Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 40,829 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 128,616 shares of the software giant's stock worth $55,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. Carlson Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Carlson Capital Management now owns 19,611 shares of the software giant's stock worth $8,438,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. M.D. Sass LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. M.D. Sass LLC now owns 9,788 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shum Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $4,674,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $0.07 on Friday, reaching $415.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 34,151,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,687,650. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $432.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $424.61. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.38% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. 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 report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $510.96.

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.