Marathon Asset Management Ltd Trims Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Marathon Asset Management Ltd trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 250,306 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 82,696 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.0% of Marathon Asset Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Marathon Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $107,705,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Microsoft during the first quarter worth $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Microsoft by 77.6% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,642,931,000 after buying an additional 2,744,900 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $846,072,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $443.57 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $364.13 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $427.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $504.36.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total value of $874,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 51,852 shares in the company, valued at $22,675,916.64. This trade represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold a total of 58,578 shares of company stock worth $24,450,096 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft 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.