Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC Increases Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,115 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.1% of Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bayesian Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Microsoft by 60.1% in the 4th quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,238,000 after buying an additional 18,200 shares in the last quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after acquiring an additional 956 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $550,086,000 after acquiring an additional 5,253 shares during the period. True Link Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 296.7% during the first quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,538,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. 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 quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $417.13 on Thursday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $418.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $425.07. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $311.21 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. 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 research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $506.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.