Sunbelt Securities Inc. Has $6.62 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by MarketBeat News on Mar 18th, 2023

Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 28,437 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,069 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.4% of Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,623,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $147,714,197,000 after acquiring an additional 6,129,708 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,824,173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951,554 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $50,302,677,000 after purchasing an additional 556,020 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 54,799,110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,074,064,000 after buying an additional 784,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 49,440,386 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,514,665,000 after buying an additional 208,765 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $279.43 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $213.43 and a twelve month high of $315.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.05, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $252.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.55.

Want More Great Investing Ideas?

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $53.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.48 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Barclays cut their target price on Microsoft from $296.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $315.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $300.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $247.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.05.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was 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 directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly 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. Insiders have sold a total of 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

(Get Rating)

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.