DT Investment Partners LLC Has $26.81 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 62,299 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.2% of DT Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. DT Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at about $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position 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 buying an additional 4,824,436 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 67.5% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 31,648.5% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865,996 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $436.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.02, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $427.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $428.32.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $508.46.

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.