Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC Increases Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,620 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,430,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position 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 valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth $75,000. Bellevue Group AG boosted its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $418.79 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $421.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $426.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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 issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft Company 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.