Capital Investment Services of America Inc. Sells 4,884 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Capital Investment Services of America Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 114,134 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,884 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 4.7% of Capital Investment Services of America Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Capital Investment Services of America Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $49,112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 161,421 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $72,147,000 after buying an additional 2,564 shares during the period. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,555 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,058,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Diligent Investors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 54,683 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $24,441,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, FLC Capital Advisors grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 20,305 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,075,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was 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 owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were 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 owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $423.35 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $428.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $428.08. 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 twelve month low of $366.50 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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 prior year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.