Principal Securities Inc. Has $58.76 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 136,555 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 4,933 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.4% of Principal Securities Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $58,760,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Manitou Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the third quarter. Manitou Investment Management Ltd. now owns 115,944 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $49,891,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 317,561 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $136,646,000 after buying an additional 2,287 shares during the period. Lincluden Management Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 19,670 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,464,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. now owns 11,454 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,929,000 after buying an additional 1,427 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LCM Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 20,528 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,833,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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 $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $421.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $428.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.60. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

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.