Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. Buys 4,466 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 96,404 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 4,466 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 6.9% of Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $47,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. Mizuho downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Rothschild Redb lowered Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $632.34.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $478.56 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $505.47 and its 200-day moving average is $501.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.89%.

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.