Randolph Co Inc Acquires 257 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Randolph Co Inc grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 85,724 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.7% of Randolph Co Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Randolph Co Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $38,314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at about $5,587,119,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $4,000,376,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after buying an additional 2,744,900 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $494.72.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $435.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.69, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $420.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $424.18. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $309.45 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Microsoft Profile

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.