Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Sells 19,454 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 646,433 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 19,454 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 4.3% of Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $220,136,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Good Life Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.6% during the second quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 54,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,396,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 4.0% during the second quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 10,761 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,665,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Planning Center Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 24.4% during the second quarter. Planning Center Inc. now owns 4,849 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,651,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV boosted its position in Microsoft by 6.6% during the first quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 1,518,749 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $437,855,000 after acquiring an additional 94,563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the second quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 19,877 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,769,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target on the stock. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $371.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 31st. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 16th. Fundamental Research set a $298.10 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $385.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.11.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $369.85 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $336.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $331.96. The company has a market capitalization of $2.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.88. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $219.35 and a 12 month high of $376.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $56.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.52 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.31% and a return on equity of 38.79%. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.35 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.04%.

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.