Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s 3rd Largest Position

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 59.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 405,134 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 151,231 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.0% of Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $181,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Richardson Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at about $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $410.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $420.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.55. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.77 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $0.22. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 35.73%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.75%.

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.