Anderson Hoagland & Co. Has $48.54 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Anderson Hoagland & Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 116,671 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,803 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 5.0% of Anderson Hoagland & Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Anderson Hoagland & Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $48,542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Bellevue Group AG boosted its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $417.00 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $421.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.07. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. 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 yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.75%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding 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 generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction 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 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968. 0.03% of the stock is owned by 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.