Ballentine Partners LLC Grows Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 170,283 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,875 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.4% of Ballentine Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $76,108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Ellis Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 7.3% in the second quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC now owns 9,315 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,163,000 after purchasing an additional 636 shares during the last quarter. MRA Advisory Group lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. MRA Advisory Group now owns 17,182 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,679,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Bowie Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bowie Capital Management LLC now owns 255,940 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $114,392,000 after acquiring an additional 53,758 shares during the period. tru Independence LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the second quarter. tru Independence LLC now owns 11,253 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,030,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 39.2% in the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 224,949 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $100,551,000 after purchasing an additional 63,344 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7 %

Microsoft stock opened at $424.60 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $420.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $424.56. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $326.94 and a 52-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. The company has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its 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 company had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management 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 given a $0.83 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft 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 value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This represents 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, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 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, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.58.

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.