SFE Investment Counsel Has $8.89 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

SFE Investment Counsel grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,664 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,285 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.9% of SFE Investment Counsel’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,767,000 after purchasing an additional 97,075 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,768,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,533 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,587,576,000 after purchasing an additional 45,220 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $438.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $366.50 and a one year high of $468.35. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $428.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $428.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.15, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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 owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.