M.D. Sass Investors Services Inc. Trims Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

M.D. Sass Investors Services Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 5.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,500 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,570 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.2% of M.D. Sass Investors Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. M.D. Sass Investors Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 71.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $104,000. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management grew its stake 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 period. 69.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $260.79 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $213.43 and a one year high of $315.95. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 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. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $249.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.22%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 value of $269,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 117,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,614,975.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 value of $269,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 117,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,614,975.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock valued at $1,728,111 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $285.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $315.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Microsoft from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $285.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.58.

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.