Keating Investment Counselors Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Keating Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 29.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,855 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,215 shares during the period. Keating Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 6,129,708 shares during the period. 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 in 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 in the last quarter. 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 142,731,177 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $34,172,705,000 after buying an additional 3,268,917 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total transaction of $418,462.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,588.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $323.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.41, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $333.42 and a 200 day moving average of $306.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.77. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $213.43 and a one year high of $366.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $56.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 34.15% and a return on equity of 38.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.23 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 17th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 28.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Fundamental Research set a $298.10 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 9th. UBS Group upgraded shares of 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. Argus raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $371.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $425.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $373.68.

About Microsoft

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.