By james art 
Chesapeake Wealth Management reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report ) by 0.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,133 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 192 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 4.4% of Chesapeake Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Chesapeake Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,966,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Injelanta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the shares are currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street analysts forecast growth
A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $512.66.
Check out our latest analysis of Microsoft stock
Microsoft price performance
Shares of MSFT opened at $444.06 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $430.47, and its two-hundred-day simple moving average is $425.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30, and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Your Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft has a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s revenue increased 16.0% year over year. During the same period in the prior year, the company reported $2.99 EPS. As a group, stock analysts expect Microsoft Co. to post 12.9 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft announces dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents an annualized dividend of $3.32 and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.
Insider buying and selling
In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51% reduction in their ownership of the shares. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed via this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was 1.71% down on their position. Disclosure of this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft company profile
(Free Report)
Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The productivity and business process segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office user services, such as Microsoft 365 user subscriptions, on-premises licensed Office, and other office services.
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