Ballast Advisors LLC Has $12.46 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ballast Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,874 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 810 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.0% of Ballast Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bayesian Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 60.1% in the fourth quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,238,000 after purchasing an additional 18,200 shares during the period. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after acquiring an additional 956 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the first 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 during the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 296.7% during the first quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264 shares during the period. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,538,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $416.54 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $418.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.01. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $314.00 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.06, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. 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 data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Argus raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $493.94.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last three months. 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.