Brightwater Advisory LLC Acquires Shares of 31,856 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Brightwater Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 31,856 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $14,238,000. Microsoft accounts for 10.0% of Brightwater Advisory LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $75,000. Bellevue Group AG increased its position in Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% in the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $415.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $422.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.53. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change 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 is 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’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 transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The trade was a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 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 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft 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.