Boston Common Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 21.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 132,147 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,469 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.5% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $56,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Microsoft by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after buying an additional 43,327 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,467 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 587,516 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $247,174,000 after buying an additional 11,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 104.4% during the first quarter. Compass Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,764 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $742,000 after acquiring an additional 901 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.2 %

MSFT opened at $427.99 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.31, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.44.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

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.