Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by McCollum Christoferson Group LLC

Key Points

• McCollum Christoferson Group increased its Microsoft stake by 92.5% in the third quarter, adding 77,451 shares to own 161,220 shares valued at $82.69 million.
• Microsoft reported quarterly EPS of $4.89 and revenue of $92.28 billion, beating analyst estimates; revenue grew 18.8% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share from $0.91.
• Analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus rating, with an average price target of $609.54.

McCollum Christoferson Group LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 92.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 161,220 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 77,451 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 12.2% of McCollum Christoferson Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. McCollum Christoferson Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $82,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,338,370,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $18,306,443,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $6,928,664,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $5,653,812,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $4,000,706,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Microsoft News

Investors following MSFT have been watching these news items:

• 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: Competition is also weighing on sentiment: Anthropic’s new workplace tools threaten Microsoft 365 and Copilot, while Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure spending raises questions about returns on investment. Competition concerns around Microsoft

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of MSFT traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $523.88. 26,130,357 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 26,173,096. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $559.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $519.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $441.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 19.00%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.00, for a total transaction of $2,655,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 54,412 shares in the company, valued at $28,892,772. This represents a 8.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. This represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 147,809 shares of company stock worth $74,769,646. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Microsoft from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Microsoft from $662.00 to $722.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, September 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.54.

Microsoft 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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