Prossimo Advisors LLC Makes New $9.10 Million Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Prossimo Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 20,360 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $9,100,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 8.2% of Prossimo Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 6,448 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,425,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Arbor Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $852,000. Fountainhead AM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC now owns 5,492 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,065,000 after buying an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,313,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in Microsoft by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 113,964 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,899,000 after buying an additional 9,529 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8 %

MSFT opened at $435.27 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $420.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $424.33. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.69, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

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

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.