Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Wesleyan Assurance Society’s Largest Position

Wesleyan Assurance Society boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 242,400 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,350 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 9.4% of Wesleyan Assurance Society’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Wesleyan Assurance Society’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $108,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its position in Microsoft by 7.1% in the second quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 884,733 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $393,957,000 after acquiring an additional 58,386 shares in the last quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 14.2% during the second quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA now owns 94,130 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,914,000 after buying an additional 11,720 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 9,117 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,075,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Waypoint Wealth Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% during the second quarter. Waypoint Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 2,421 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 64.8% during the second quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 141,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,109,000 after acquiring an additional 55,516 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $428.02 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $419.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $424.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 28.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.94.

Microsoft Company 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.