Meridian Management Co. Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Meridian Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,197 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the quarter. Meridian Management Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $982,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. West Paces Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 9,725 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,091,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares in the last quarter. Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% during the first quarter. Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd. now owns 16,932 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,124,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 18.4% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 14,071 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,920,000 after buying an additional 2,190 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 24.0% in the first quarter. Altus Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,327 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $979,000 after buying an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the first quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,324 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,407,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $506.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $502.97.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related 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 transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available 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 sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

MSFT stock opened at $432.53 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $334.69 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.22 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $421.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $424.70. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.11%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Microsoft

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.