Abner Herrman & Brock LLC Has $32.90 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Abner Herrman & Brock LLC decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 76,467 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 288 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.0% of Abner Herrman & Brock LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Abner Herrman & Brock LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $32,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after purchasing an additional 842,884 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,426,767,000 after acquiring an additional 97,075 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Microsoft by 6.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,768,771,000 after buying an additional 1,563,533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,587,576,000 after acquiring an additional 45,220 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $417.00 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $421.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $426.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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.