V. M. Manning & CO. Inc. Takes Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

V. M. Manning & CO. Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 2,477 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,258,000. Microsoft comprises about 1.4% of V. M. Manning & CO. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $630.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Microsoft from $640.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim set a $675.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.03.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $474.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $502.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $502.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Microsoft Company 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.