IAM Advisory LLC Lowers Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

IAM Advisory LLC lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,616 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 176 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 0.9% of IAM Advisory LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. IAM Advisory LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,708,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $192,515,000 after buying an additional 8,290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 3.4% in the second quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $69,840,000 after buying an additional 5,176 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $415.49 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $422.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $426.13. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen decreased their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837. Corporate 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.