Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Olstein Capital Management L.P.

Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 35.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,500 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,088,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. General American Investors Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 29.0% during the third quarter. General American Investors Co. Inc. now owns 200,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $86,060,000 after buying an additional 45,000 shares in the last quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,230 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,402,000 after purchasing an additional 2,503 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,651,058 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,734,651,000 after purchasing an additional 501,954 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Microsoft by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 51,237 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $22,047,000 after buying an additional 4,894 shares during the period. Finally, Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 80,525 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $34,650,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5 %

MSFT opened at $424.56 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $428.65 and a 200-day moving average of $427.59. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $371.19 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft 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.