Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Increases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 31,648.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,865,996 shares during the quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,366,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Bellevue Group AG increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $80,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $427.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $420.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.56. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $324.39 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion for 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.