Trinity Street Asset Management LLP Buys 3,934 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Trinity Street Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 58,331 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,934 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.5% of Trinity Street Asset Management LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $430.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.52, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $428.90 and a 200-day moving average of $428.87.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.