Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas Reduces Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 204,772 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,113 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 5.0% of Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $88,113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% in the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $192,515,000 after buying an additional 8,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $69,840,000 after buying an additional 5,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $423.46 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.94, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $420.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $426.55.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business 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%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share 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 purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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.