Caledonia Investments PLC Sells 26,300 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Caledonia Investments PLC lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 173,017 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 26,300 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 11.3% of Caledonia Investments PLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Caledonia Investments PLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $88,740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 315,653,206 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $117,744,959,000 after acquiring an additional 8,944,917 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth $27,338,370,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 64,375,360 shares of the software giant's stock worth $24,013,297,000 after acquiring an additional 543,172 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth $18,306,443,000. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Microsoft by 12.0% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 46,694,778 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,418,076,000 after acquiring an additional 5,019,702 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at $265,888,830.48. This represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 147,809 shares of company stock valued at $74,769,646 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Top Microsoft Stories

Here are a few of the latest stories about MSFT:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reported improving availability and said Outlook email queues were approaching normal levels, easing some immediate concern about the disruption. One analyst reiterated a Buy rating and a $630 price target, citing Azure growth of 48% and expected growth of 49%–50% in fiscal Q2. Microsoft outage recovery update Analyst Buy rating and price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest quarterly results were strong: earnings per share and revenue exceeded estimates, with revenue up 18.8% year over year. That performance supports the longer-term growth case, although recent outage and competition headlines have drawn investor attention. Microsoft earnings and financial data
• Negative Sentiment: A prolonged global outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other services across more than 70 countries, affecting businesses and public agencies. Even as service recovered, the incident raised questions about Microsoft’s reliability and customers’ dependence on its cloud infrastructure. Inside Microsoft’s response to the global outage

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $0.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $523.88. 26,130,357 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 26,173,096. The company has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $519.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $441.85. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $559.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.72 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $92.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 41.17% and a return on equity of 31.28%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 19.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Griffin Securities cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Raymond James Financial set a $650.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up from $610.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Roth Capital assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, November 6th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.54.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, and digital solutions for consumers, businesses, and public-sector organizations. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Azure cloud computing, LinkedIn, GitHub, Surface devices, and Xbox gaming products and services. Microsoft also provides business software, cybersecurity tools, and artificial intelligence technologies.

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