Meritage Portfolio Management Reduces Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Meritage Portfolio Management lessened its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 253,467 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,290 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.9% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $59,033,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Balasa Dinverno & Foltz LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Balasa Dinverno & Foltz LLC now owns 70,893 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,511,000 after acquiring an additional 2,193 shares during the last quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 33,889 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,893,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Vigilant Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vigilant Capital Management LLC now owns 163,641 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $38,112,000 after acquiring an additional 8,818 shares during the last quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 95,146 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $22,159,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orgel Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Orgel Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,618 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,308,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 24,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.27, for a total value of $6,139,094.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 150,047 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,152,450.69. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Microsoft from $270.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Credit Suisse Group set a $365.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Friday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $270.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Finally, Cowen lowered their price target on Microsoft from $310.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.79.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Microsoft stock opened at $242.58 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $241.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $249.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.94. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $213.43 and a 12 month high of $315.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 25th. The software giant reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $50.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.70 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 42.10% and a net margin of 34.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.51 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 15th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 15th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.31%.

Microsoft Company Profile

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Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.