Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Shell Asset Management Co.’s 2nd Largest Position

Shell Asset Management Co. cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 23.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 571,152 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 173,219 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 5.2% of Shell Asset Management Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $133,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 71.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth approximately $82,000. Avondale Wealth Management lifted 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 purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $104,000. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.5 %

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

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.17 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 39.87% and a net margin of 33.05%. The company’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total value of $269,380.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 117,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,614,975.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total transaction of $269,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 117,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,614,975.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $285.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Microsoft from $247.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on Microsoft from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus 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.