CapWealth Advisors LLC Has $41.19 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

CapWealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 92,164 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,366 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 5.2% of CapWealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. CapWealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $41,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bath Savings Trust Co increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 92,790 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $39,039,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares in the last quarter. jvl associates llc increased its stake in Microsoft by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 3,856 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,622,000 after purchasing an additional 805 shares in the last quarter. Emprise Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at $8,006,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,749 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,157,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Waters Wealth Management increased its stake in Microsoft by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Great Waters Wealth Management now owns 4,758 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. 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 available at this link. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. 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 available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3 %

Microsoft stock opened at $418.16 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $324.39 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $419.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $424.51.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Argus raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.68.

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.