Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Metis Global Partners LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 27th, 2023

Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 68.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 225,755 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 92,107 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.8% of Metis Global Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $54,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 71.4% during the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $332.89 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $296.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $264.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 1.91. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $213.43 and a 52-week high of $333.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.07, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.93.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. The firm had revenue of $52.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.47%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total value of $9,182,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,848 shares of company stock valued at $16,635,227. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Macquarie upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $260.00 to $325.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Barclays upped their target price on Microsoft from $310.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Microsoft from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Microsoft from $290.00 to $348.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.69.

About Microsoft

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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.