BLB&B Advisors LLC Has $70.38 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BLB&B Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 157,460 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 7,196 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.9% of BLB&B Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $70,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bayesian Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 60.1% in the 4th quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,238,000 after purchasing an additional 18,200 shares in the last quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 16.5% in 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 buying an additional 956 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $550,086,000 after buying an additional 5,253 shares during the period. True Link Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 296.7% in 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 buying an additional 2,264 shares during the period. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,538,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $416.54 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $314.00 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $418.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $425.01. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows 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 management believes its shares are 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 issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. 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%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. New Street Research initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $493.94.

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.