Seizert Capital Partners LLC Has $13.66 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Seizert Capital Partners LLC cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,105 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,757 shares during the quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,657,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $351,001,000 after purchasing an additional 196,338 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 8.2% in the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $360.53 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $219.35 and a 1-year high of $366.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $330.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $327.98.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.34. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.79% and a net margin of 35.31%. The business had revenue of $56.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.35 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. UBS Group upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $345.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Raymond James increased their target price on Microsoft from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $432.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $384.34.

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.