Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock: Castleview Partners LLC Decreases Stake

Key Points

• Castleview Partners cut its Microsoft stake by 30.6% in the third quarter, selling 1,311 shares and ending with 2,969 shares valued at about $1.52 million.
• Analyst sentiment remained broadly positive: Microsoft had a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $609.54.
• Microsoft beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, with revenue up 18.8% year over year, and raised its quarterly dividend from $0.91 to $0.98 per share.

Castleview Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,969 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,311 shares during the period. Castleview Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Box Hill Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Box Hill Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,272 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,593,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the third quarter. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC now owns 4,426 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,270,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the second quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the second quarter. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC now owns 687 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Mann Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mann Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,921 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $717,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 12th. UBS Group set a $700.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial set a $650.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $630.00 price target (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Microsoft from $608.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $609.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.00, for a total value of $2,655,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 54,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,892,772. This trade represents a 8.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $544.37, for a total transaction of $3,976,622.85. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 548,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,364,297.67. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders sold a total of 147,809 shares of company stock worth $74,769,646 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $523.88 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $519.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $441.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $559.15.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Microsoft News Roundup

Investors following MSFT have been watching these news items:

• 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
• 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

About Microsoft

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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