Proffitt & Goodson Inc. Buys 280 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Proffitt & Goodson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,901 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 280 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.9% of Proffitt & Goodson Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Proffitt & Goodson Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Bayesian Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 60.1% in the fourth quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,238,000 after purchasing an additional 18,200 shares during the last quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,545,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $550,086,000 after purchasing an additional 5,253 shares during the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 worth $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $9,538,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $429.17 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $420.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $309.45 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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $506.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.