Sterling Investment Management LLC Has $3.75 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 26th, 2023

Sterling Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 1.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,004 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 134 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.0% of Sterling Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Sterling Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% in the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $351,001,000 after purchasing an additional 196,338 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Powell Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 8.2% during the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Microsoft from $336.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 28th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $345.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Friday, July 14th. Redburn Partners decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 11th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $375.03.

View Our Latest Stock Report on Microsoft

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2 %

MSFT opened at $317.54 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $366.78. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $330.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $316.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.77, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.14. Microsoft had a net margin of 34.15% and a return on equity of 38.70%. The company had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.23 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 30.96%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 115,049 shares of company stock valued at $38,195,619. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.