Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Increased by Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 55,261 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,561 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.0% of Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $24,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Lummis Asset Management LP increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 13,247 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,921,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Marathon Capital Management increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% in the second quarter. Marathon Capital Management now owns 25,533 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,412,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014 shares during the period. Mark Asset Management LP grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mark Asset Management LP now owns 83,351 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $37,254,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC now owns 3,691 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,650,000 after buying an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 226.4% during the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 600,004 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $268,172,000 after buying an additional 416,173 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $423.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $421.11 and a 200 day moving average of $425.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $362.90 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the business’s 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 owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho increased their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.