Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Perpetual Ltd

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 30th, 2023

Perpetual Ltd decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 763,311 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 145,521 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.2% of Perpetual Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $259,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,017,948,000 after acquiring an additional 150,053,637 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $20,700,525,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position 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 worth $66,852,000 after acquiring an additional 20,553,188 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 29,789.2% during the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,570,893 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,477,000 after acquiring an additional 16,515,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in Microsoft by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 119,417,954 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,638,815,000 after acquiring an additional 14,652,150 shares in the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $411.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $398.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 20th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, September 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.03.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft

Microsoft Stock Up 0.7 %

Microsoft stock opened at $315.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.77. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $213.43 and a 52-week high of $366.78. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $327.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $317.68. The firm has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.59, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $56.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.07%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total value of $16,860,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 115,049 shares of company stock worth $38,195,619 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.