BetterWealth LLC Acquires 76 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BetterWealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,113 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.7% of BetterWealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. BetterWealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,920,047,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,587,119,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,000,376,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,642,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $506.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus lifted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price 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-two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.72.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $430.81 on Thursday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $423.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $309.45 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. 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. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company 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.