Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,946,504 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 500,302 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 7.9% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,104,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at about $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.8 %

MSFT stock opened at $428.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $420.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $424.56. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $326.94 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 28.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total transaction of $7,157,129.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 150,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,843,807.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho upped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight 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 target price of $495.94.

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.