Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Sheets Smith Wealth Management

Sheets Smith Wealth Management cut its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,737 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,254 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.0% of Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,426,767,000 after purchasing an additional 97,075 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Microsoft by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,768,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,533 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,651,058 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,734,651,000 after acquiring an additional 501,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $417.19 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $429.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.98. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $384.81 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm 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%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. 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. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.62.

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.