Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Boosted by Aldebaran Financial Inc.

Aldebaran Financial Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,663 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 4.1% of Aldebaran Financial Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Aldebaran Financial Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,298,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Morse Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 42.4% in the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 67,404 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,004,000 after acquiring an additional 20,061 shares during the period. Passumpsic Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 69.0% in the third quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 2,832 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after acquiring an additional 1,156 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 18.3% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 124,788 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $53,696,000 after acquiring an additional 19,302 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.5% in the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 189,607 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $81,540,000 after acquiring an additional 40,890 shares during the period. Finally, Second Line Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.3% in the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 15,080 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,489,000 after acquiring an additional 894 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock worth $14,333,540. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $409.04 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $430.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $423.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

About Microsoft

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.