Troy Asset Management Ltd Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Troy Asset Management Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 897,803 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 22,837 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 12.5% of Troy Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Troy Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $386,325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 7,352 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,164,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,889 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,825,000 after buying an additional 1,127 shares in the last quarter. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC now owns 4,617 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,987,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 295,376 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $127,105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Austin Asset Management Co Inc raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Austin Asset Management Co Inc now owns 4,862 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,092,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $417.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $429.00 and a 200 day moving average of $426.98. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $384.81 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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 was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.