Banco Santander S.A. Has $301.43 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Banco Santander S.A. lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 674,417 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,781 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.7% of Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $301,431,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $11,851,000. Brady Family Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Brady Family Wealth LLC now owns 45,141 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,975,000 after buying an additional 637 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,213 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,208,000 after buying an additional 546 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,389,541 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $898,563,000 after buying an additional 237,986 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $416.06 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $314.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $418.32 and its 200 day moving average is $425.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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 dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $493.94.

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.