von Borstel & Associates Inc. Makes New $283,000 Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 658 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $283,000. Microsoft makes up 0.2% of von Borstel & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,467 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 49,412 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,789,000 after purchasing an additional 12,426 shares during the period. Finally, Significant Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Significant Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $566,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $431.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.58, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $420.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 134,578 shares of company stock valued at $55,279,956 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.