Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund

United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 588,702 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 10,225 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 10.1% of United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $253,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % 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 corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $429.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $429.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $426.58. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. 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 research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.93.

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.