Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is New World Advisors LLC’s 6th Largest Position

New World Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,006 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.9% of New World Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. New World Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Leibman Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the first quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 9,745 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,100,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. VERITY Wealth Advisors grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the first quarter. VERITY Wealth Advisors now owns 9,141 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,846,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.2% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 818,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $344,259,000 after purchasing an additional 47,704 shares during the last quarter. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the first quarter. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,215 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,981,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% in the first quarter. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC now owns 3,494 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $418.16 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $324.39 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $419.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $424.49. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to purchase 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 shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.74%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $506.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.68.

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.