CWC Advisors LLC. Takes Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

CWC Advisors LLC. bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 3,867 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,664,000. Microsoft makes up 1.6% of CWC Advisors LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Microsoft by 67.5% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 2,404,348 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 31,648.5% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,366,000 after buying an additional 1,865,996 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 128.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,160,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,412,656,000 after buying an additional 1,776,825 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $436.60 on Monday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $427.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $428.42. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $366.50 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase 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 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.