Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by NS Partners Ltd

NS Partners Ltd raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 531,345 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,691 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 9.6% of NS Partners Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. NS Partners Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $228,638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 5,383 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,316,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 4.4% in the third quarter. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 5,220 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,246,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. MWA Asset Management increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 10,266 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,418,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Sachetta LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 11,354 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,885,000 after buying an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 154.6% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 351,135 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $151,093,000 after buying an additional 213,214 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6 %

Microsoft stock opened at $444.06 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $431.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $425.54. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $385.58 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.

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 issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.