Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Lessened by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 283,057 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 518 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.2% of Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $121,799,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Microsoft by 67.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404,348 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in Microsoft by 56.9% during the third quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,344,566 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,299,767,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938,304 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were 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 approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $509.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $444.06 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $431.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $425.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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.