Dodds Wealth LLC Acquires 201 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Dodds Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,818 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.3% of Dodds Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Dodds Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bayesian Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 60.1% during the fourth quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,238,000 after buying an additional 18,200 shares during the last quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,545,000 after acquiring an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $550,086,000 after acquiring an additional 5,253 shares in the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 296.7% during the first quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,538,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $506.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $493.94.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8 %

MSFT opened at $428.02 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $309.45 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The business’s 50 day moving average is $419.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $425.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current 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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Microsoft

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.