Gold Investment Management Ltd. Has $9.84 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Gold Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,921 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,332 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 4.1% of Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Quantum Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC now owns 44,482 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,140,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 15,501 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,674,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. now owns 21,670 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,326,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the last quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 12,962 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,433,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 436,564 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $187,853,000 after acquiring an additional 49,544 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Loop Capital raised their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $418.95 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $380.38 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $428.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $427.53. 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 $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.