Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Castleark Management LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Castleark Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 35.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 371,994 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 96,392 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.6% of Castleark Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $185,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 386.7% during the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of MSFT opened at $478.53 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $504.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $502.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation 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 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Arete Research upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $632.34.

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.