Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Acquires 89,511 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 686,770 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 89,511 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.9% of Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $306,952,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Meridian Management Co. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 5.4% in the second quarter. Meridian Management Co. now owns 2,197 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $982,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% in the second quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 28,474 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the second quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,976,672 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $883,474,000 after acquiring an additional 143,444 shares during the period. Stolper Co lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Stolper Co now owns 16,344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,305,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% during the second quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 160,861 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,897,000 after acquiring an additional 15,290 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $432.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $3.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.62, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $334.69 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $421.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $424.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Mizuho upped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Bank of America upped their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $502.97.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the 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 approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.