Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd.

City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 33.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,319 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,270 shares during the quarter. City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $75,000. Bellevue Group AG increased its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at $80,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $410.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.77 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $420.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $424.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 35.73%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.