Innealta Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 167 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 167 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $75,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,160,020,000 after buying an additional 842,884 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,381,692 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,544,532,000 after buying an additional 403,409 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,640,068 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,096,428,000 after buying an additional 360,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Microsoft by 15.6% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,931,721 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,019,942,000 after acquiring an additional 1,613,050 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $416.06 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 fifty day simple moving average is $418.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $425.03. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $314.90 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.02, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. This is an increase 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 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.74%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Argus increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’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 $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.