Opes Wealth Management LLC Raises Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Opes Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,699 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 466 shares during the period. Opes Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. SFE Investment Counsel increased its stake in Microsoft by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 18,379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,214,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,104 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,857,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC now owns 21,634 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 600,576 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $268,428,000 after purchasing an additional 25,386 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,686 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,882,000 after purchasing an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. 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 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen increased their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Bank of America increased their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Argus increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $418.16 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $324.39 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.20, a PEG ratio of 2.22 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. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $419.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $424.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders 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 a positive change 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 28.74%.

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.