Carnegie Investment Counsel Buys 8,099 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Carnegie Investment Counsel grew its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 278,341 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,099 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.5% of Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $119,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 3.4% during the third quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 890 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Group LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 19.3% during the third quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 21,871 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,411,000 after acquiring an additional 3,543 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 3.3% during the third quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 67,835 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,190,000 after acquiring an additional 2,182 shares during the period. Westend Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 27,583 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,869,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the period. Finally, Montis Financial LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 6.8% during the third quarter. Montis Financial LLC now owns 7,610 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,275,000 after acquiring an additional 486 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $423.46 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $420.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $426.46. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $362.90 and a 12-month high of $468.35. 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 company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.94, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Company Profile

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.