Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Raised by Private Wealth Strategies L.L.C.

Private Wealth Strategies L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,955 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Private Wealth Strategies L.L.C.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $874,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rice Partnership LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 81,065 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,232,000 after buying an additional 2,137 shares in the last quarter. DDD Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 37.3% during the 2nd quarter. DDD Partners LLC now owns 169,619 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $75,811,000 after acquiring an additional 46,060 shares during the period. Guidance Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the second quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 12,268 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,132,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the second quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 15,131 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,764,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.5% during the second quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 35,611 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,861 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price 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. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.47.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.74 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $324.39 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $418.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.65.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase 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 yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

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.