Second Line Capital LLC Has $6.34 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Second Line Capital LLC raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 28.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,186 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,132 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.9% of Second Line Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Second Line Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 189,809 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $79,856,000 after acquiring an additional 27,415 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 829 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $349,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Accel Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 7,047 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,965,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RBA Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.0% in the first quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,602 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,668,000 after purchasing an additional 983 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were 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 owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $426.89 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $362.90 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $421.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $425.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management 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 issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 24.75%.

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.