Keene & Associates Inc. Has $4.31 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Keene & Associates Inc. lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,008 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 259 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.3% of Keene & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Keene & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 31,648.5% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,366,000 after buying an additional 1,865,996 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 128.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,160,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,412,656,000 after buying an additional 1,776,825 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $437.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $366.50 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $426.62 and a 200 day moving average of $428.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $508.46.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.