Northside Capital Management LLC Trims Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 13th, 2023

Northside Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 8.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,733 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,994 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 3.9% of Northside Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Northside Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $385.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. Redburn Partners cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $340.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.34.

View Our Latest Report on Microsoft

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $331.16 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $324.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $320.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.18, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $366.78. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $56.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.23 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.07%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at $262,963,391.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 115,049 shares of company stock valued at $38,195,619 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft 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.