Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Waverton Investment Management Ltd

Waverton Investment Management Ltd increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 954,830 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 57,468 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 6.7% of Waverton Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Waverton Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $410,801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,767,000 after buying an additional 97,075 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,768,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,533 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 3.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,651,058 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,734,651,000 after buying an additional 501,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,587,576,000 after purchasing an additional 45,220 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4 %

MSFT opened at $424.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a fifty day moving average of $429.21 and a 200-day moving average of $426.58. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $384.81 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.