Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd. Buys 24,000 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd. lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 240.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,000 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 24,000 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 7.6% of Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd 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 bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

Microsoft stock opened at $418.95 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $380.38 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $428.83 and a 200-day moving average of $427.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’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 $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.