Cozad Asset Management Inc. Purchases 476 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 56,080 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.5% of Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,065,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. now owns 10,460 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,401,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 14.7% during the first quarter. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,290 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $543,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 7.1% during the first quarter. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,168,000 after purchasing an additional 2,535 shares in the last quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter worth approximately $6,986,000. Finally, Advance Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,614 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,045,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Argus boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.68.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

Microsoft stock opened at $416.72 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $324.39 and a 12 month 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. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $419.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $424.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.