Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Hendershot Investments Inc.

Hendershot Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 56,413 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.6% of Hendershot Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Hendershot Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Bath Savings Trust Co boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the first quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 92,790 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $39,039,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares in the last quarter. jvl associates llc boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 26.4% in the first quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 3,856 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,622,000 after purchasing an additional 805 shares in the last quarter. Emprise Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $8,006,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% in the first quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,749 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,157,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Waters Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 6.2% in the first quarter. Great Waters Wealth Management now owns 4,758 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Argus upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reduced 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. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $418.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $419.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $424.51. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $324.39 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.20, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change 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 yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.