Charles Schwab Trust Co Trims Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Charles Schwab Trust Co trimmed its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,686 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,118 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter worth about $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Microsoft by 77.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $846,072,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen decreased 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $422.99 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $362.90 and a 52 week high of $468.35. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $421.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $426.42. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91.

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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.