Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by New England Research & Management Inc.

New England Research & Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,230 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 125 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.7% of New England Research & Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. New England Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Microsoft by 62.0% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after buying an additional 43,327 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.5% during the first quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 4,709 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,981,000 after buying an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.8% in the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 64,318 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $27,060,000 after acquiring an additional 13,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Colony Family Offices LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $281,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

Microsoft stock opened at $414.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $422.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $426.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $362.90 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during 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%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.75%.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.