Brookstone Capital Management Boosts Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 200,709 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,884 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.3% of Brookstone Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $86,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Trust Co of Kansas lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co of Kansas now owns 24,624 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,596,000 after acquiring an additional 1,475 shares during the period. Leibman Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the third quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 9,806 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,220,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Reliant Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 6.2% during the third quarter. Reliant Investment Management LLC now owns 14,095 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,065,000 after purchasing an additional 829 shares in the last quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 1,362 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $586,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,871 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,829,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $417.00 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $421.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $426.19. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

About Microsoft

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.