Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by LexAurum Advisors LLC

LexAurum Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,999 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.4% of LexAurum Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. LexAurum Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,454,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after buying an additional 31,401 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its stake in Microsoft by 10.9% during the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 106,292 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,737,000 after purchasing an additional 10,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $192,515,000 after buying an additional 8,290 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total value of $7,157,129.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 150,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,843,807.85. This represents a 10.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,578 shares of company stock valued at $24,450,096 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $504.36.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $443.57 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $421.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $427.00. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $364.13 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft Company 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.