Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Donaldson Capital Management LLC

Donaldson Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 274,500 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 3,307 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 4.5% of Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $118,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. KG&L Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC now owns 20,884 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,984,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 49,945 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,491,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. Blue Square Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.5% in the third quarter. Blue Square Asset Management LLC now owns 8,458 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,639,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Lansing Street Advisors boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.8% in the third quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 6,776 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,916,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the third quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 46,259 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,905,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $423.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $428.62 and its 200 day moving average is $428.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.93, 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 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 net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. 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. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

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

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.