Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.

Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,550,405 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,076 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 7.9% of Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $361,089,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Phoenix Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors now owns 17,286 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,440,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 199.7% during the 3rd quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 107,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,356,000 after purchasing an additional 71,769 shares in the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 41.9% during the 3rd quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 2,908 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 67,872 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,432,000 after buying an additional 4,081 shares during the period. Finally, BlackDiamond Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,751 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,943,000 after buying an additional 650 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $253.70 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $248.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $213.43 and a 12-month high of $315.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 39.87% and a net margin of 33.05%. The business had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.48 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Cowen cut their price objective on Microsoft from $285.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $305.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $296.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $212.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. One investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.58.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total transaction of $272,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,687,699.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

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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.