M.D. Sass Investors Services Inc. Sells 1,570 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

M.D. Sass Investors Services Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,500 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,570 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.2% of M.D. Sass Investors Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. M.D. Sass Investors Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the third 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 period. State Street Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the third 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 period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $50,302,677,000 after purchasing an additional 556,020 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 54,799,110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,074,064,000 after purchasing an additional 784,656 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 49,440,386 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,514,665,000 after purchasing an additional 208,765 shares during the period. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $247.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. UBS Group set a $250.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. DA Davidson upped their price target 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.58.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total transaction of $272,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,687,699.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $260.79 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $249.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $245.09. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.98, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $213.43 and a 12 month high of $315.95.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 30.22%.

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.