Capital Market Strategies LLC Has $13.32 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Capital Market Strategies LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 30,955 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 119 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 8.0% of Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Bellevue Group AG increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2 %

Microsoft stock opened at $415.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.30, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $422.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.