Cipher Capital LP Takes Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cipher Capital LP bought a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 25,768 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $6,001,000. Microsoft accounts for 1.0% of Cipher Capital LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 71.4% in 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 last quarter. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth approximately $82,000. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its stake in Microsoft by 58.6% during the third quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 406 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $104,000. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.5 %

MSFT stock opened at $248.59 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $248.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.93. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $315.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.05% and a return on equity of 39.87%. The firm had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total transaction of $272,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,687,699.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total value of $272,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,687,699.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Credit Suisse Group set a $285.00 target price on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. UBS Group set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $285.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.58.

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.