Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Lifted by Saturna Capital Corp

Saturna Capital Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,111,853 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,720 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 6.3% of Saturna Capital Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Saturna Capital Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $478,430,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 67.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,566,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,348 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in Microsoft by 46.1% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,032,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its stake in Microsoft by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,344,566 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,299,767,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,304 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Friday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $509.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $512.93.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $429.03 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a 50-day moving average of $429.32 and a 200-day moving average of $426.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

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.