Value Partners Investments Inc. Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by on Mar 20th, 2023

Value Partners Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 20.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 177,554 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,321 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.7% of Value Partners Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Value Partners Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $42,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 71.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its stake in Microsoft by 58.6% in the third quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 406 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 57.5% in the third quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 411 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $305.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, UBS Group set a $275.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $286.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total transaction of $269,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 117,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,614,975.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total transaction of $269,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 117,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,614,975.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock valued at $1,728,111. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $279.43 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.05, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $252.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.31. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $213.43 and a 12-month high of $315.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 39.87% and a net margin of 33.05%. The business had revenue of $52.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.22%.

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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