Tortoise Investment Management LLC Raises Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,235 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 358 shares during the quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $550,086,000 after buying an additional 5,253 shares in the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 296.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,264 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 19.0% in the 2nd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 81,502 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,427,000 after purchasing an additional 12,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% during the first quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 12,521 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,268,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $506.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Argus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America increased 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $493.47.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6 %

MSFT opened at $416.12 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $419.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $424.59. 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 has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $324.39 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 dividend payout ratio is 28.74%.

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.