Symmetry Partners LLC Has $1.75 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Symmetry Partners LLC decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 92.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,071 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 51,235 shares during the quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 15,830 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,759 shares during the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 23,697 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,080,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 12,802 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,722,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Williams & Novak LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Williams & Novak LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,253,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $418.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $428.83 and a 200-day moving average of $428.45. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $366.50 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th 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 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

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.