Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,084 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 405 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 4.1% of Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rebalance LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Innova Wealth Partners grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Doheny Asset Management CA boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 6,397 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,691,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $494.72.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $438.69 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $421.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $423.89. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $309.45 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.