Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Nexus Investment Management ULC

Nexus Investment Management ULC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 76,740 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 910 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.2% of Nexus Investment Management ULC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Nexus Investment Management ULC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $32,346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter worth about $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% in the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $397.12 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $420.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $422.79. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

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.