Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 83.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,550 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 7,750 shares during the period. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $447,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% during the first quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 11,951 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,445,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Quilter Plc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 844,299 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $202,480,000 after purchasing an additional 11,563 shares during the period. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 200,299 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $48,036,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 13,880 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,329,000 after purchasing an additional 832 shares during the period. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 225,755 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $54,141,000 after purchasing an additional 92,107 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total transaction of $418,462.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 874 shares in the company, valued at $292,588.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Argus upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $371.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $335.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $411.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $373.68.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

MSFT stock opened at $328.79 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $213.43 and a 12 month high of $366.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $333.13 and its 200 day moving average is $307.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm posted $2.23 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.07%.

Microsoft Profile

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.