Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP’s 3rd Largest Position

Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 243,889 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 448 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.2% of Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $104,945,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vestor Capital LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 255,890 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $110,110,000 after buying an additional 27,927 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 33,800 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,544,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 5.8% during the third quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,681 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,311,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 33,718 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,119,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $9,308,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % 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, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $423.35 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $366.50 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $428.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $428.35. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

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.