McAdam LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

McAdam LLC increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,946 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares during the period. McAdam LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 59.6% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 27,323 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,212,000 after purchasing an additional 10,204 shares during the period. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the second quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,757 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,596,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. EWA LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 13.6% in the second quarter. EWA LLC now owns 15,724 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,995,000 after purchasing an additional 1,879 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.1% in the second quarter. Family Firm Inc. now owns 3,696 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Keynote Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the second quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 10,778 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,817,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho increased their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $506.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8 %

MSFT stock opened at $428.02 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $309.45 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The business’s 50-day moving average is $419.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $424.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.