Chemistry Wealth Management LLC Increases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Chemistry Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,500 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.7% of Chemistry Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $75,000. Bellevue Group AG lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $415.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $422.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.13. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. 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 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. 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 report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.