Sycomore Asset Management Has $20.67 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 18th, 2023

Sycomore Asset Management lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 86,593 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 10,284 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 5.7% of Sycomore Asset Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Sycomore Asset Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,672,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 35,465.9% during the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $66,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,553,188 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after purchasing an additional 6,129,708 shares during the period. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 11,434.2% during the second quarter. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. now owns 5,460,976 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $21,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,413,630 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $981,125,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Microsoft by 13.8% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 30,893,155 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,524,669,000 after purchasing an additional 3,757,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. UBS Group set a $250.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.05.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $279.43 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $213.43 and a 52 week high of $315.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $252.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $245.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.93.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.05% and a return on equity of 39.87%. The business had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 30.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total transaction of $272,320.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,687,699.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 6,767 shares of company stock valued at $1,728,111. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Company Profile

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.