Signaturefd LLC Sells 1,723 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Signaturefd LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 202,604 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,723 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.7% of Signaturefd LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $87,180,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,645,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after buying an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. New Harbor Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% during the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its stake in Microsoft by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 106,292 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,737,000 after purchasing an additional 10,421 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $505.43.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $451.59 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $425.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $427.76. The company has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $366.50 and a 12-month high of $468.35. 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 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 analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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.