Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s 10th Largest Position

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 153,446 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,758 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.7% of Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $68,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Bellevue Group AG increased its position in Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.94.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.2 %

MSFT opened at $420.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.42, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $418.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $425.13. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $311.21 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s 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 owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.