Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Herbst Group LLC’s Largest Position

Herbst Group LLC lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 16,810 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 436 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 4.5% of Herbst Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Herbst Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in 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 during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $75,000. Bellevue Group AG boosted 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 buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $415.49 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week 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. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.28, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $422.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $426.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.