Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P.

Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,231 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.7% of Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 4.3% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,228,198 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $528,494,000 after purchasing an additional 50,121 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 3,020,221 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,299,601,000 after purchasing an additional 53,182 shares in the last quarter. FIDELIS iM LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the third quarter. FIDELIS iM LLC now owns 1,780 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $766,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 14.8% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 13,229,414 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,692,617,000 after buying an additional 1,707,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lutz Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Lutz Financial Services LLC now owns 3,119 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,342,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $423.35 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. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $366.50 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $428.62 and a 200 day moving average of $428.35.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade 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 valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.