Cypress Capital Group decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,348 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,619 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 3.1% of Cypress Capital Group’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $104,000. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $82,000. Avondale Wealth Management increased its holdings in Microsoft by 58.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 406 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, John W. Brooker & Co. CPAs increased its holdings in Microsoft by 64.1% in the 3rd quarter. John W. Brooker & Co. CPAs now owns 512 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Price Performance
Shares of MSFT opened at $258.06 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $246.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $249.05. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $315.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.67, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.93.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.05% and a return on equity of 39.87%. The firm had revenue of $52.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.48 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 16th will be given a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 15th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 30.22%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $315.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 26th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Fundamental Research reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $269.73 to $259.47 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.26.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total transaction of $269,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 117,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,614,975.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 24,144 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.27, for a total transaction of $6,139,094.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 150,047 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,152,450.69. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total transaction of $269,380.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 117,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,614,975.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 26,144 shares of company stock valued at $6,680,795. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Profile
Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.