Mainsail Financial Group LLC Has $4.09 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 21st, 2023

Mainsail Financial Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,022 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 508 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.8% of Mainsail Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Mainsail Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after buying an additional 6,129,708 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,824,173,000 after buying an additional 1,951,554 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 200,523,373 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,810,889,000 after buying an additional 1,537,712 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $50,302,677,000 after buying an additional 556,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after buying an additional 150,053,637 shares during the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total value of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at $198,301,924.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 115,049 shares of company stock valued at $38,195,619 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $326.67 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $325.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $322.91. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $213.43 and a 12 month high of $366.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.14. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The firm had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.75 dividend. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 30.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Microsoft from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 2nd. Fundamental Research set a $298.10 price target on Microsoft and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 9th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $410.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $345.00 to $400.00 in a report on Friday, July 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.11.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT

About Microsoft

(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.