Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Calamos Advisors LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Calamos Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,582,089 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 130,631 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.4% of Calamos Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $879,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its stake 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 valued at $351,001,000 after buying an additional 196,338 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Powell Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. HSBC raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $347.00 to $413.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. UBS Group raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $345.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Finally, Fundamental Research set a $298.10 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $384.34.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $360.69 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $219.35 and a 1 year high of $366.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s fifty day moving average is $331.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $328.45.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. 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 payout ratio is presently 29.04%.

Microsoft Company 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.