Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. Sells 846 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 25,988 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 846 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.6% of Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,642,931,000 after acquiring an additional 2,744,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth about $846,072,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Mizuho upped their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $410.37 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.77 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $420.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $424.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.08 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.