Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Raised by Caxton Associates LLP

Caxton Associates LLP lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2,752.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 697,926 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 673,460 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 8.8% of Caxton Associates LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Caxton Associates LLP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $347,155,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after buying an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,714,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532,054 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Melius Research upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $632.34.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $478.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $504.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $502.34. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The firm 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 last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

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.