BOS Asset Management LLC Raises Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BOS Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,467 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.2% of BOS Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. BOS Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,213,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,467 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Money Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at $3,464,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth about $4,687,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total transaction of $874,640.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 51,852 shares in the company, valued at $22,675,916.64. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 98,578 shares of company stock valued at $40,553,696. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2 %

Microsoft stock opened at $443.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $421.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $426.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $364.13 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.60, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $504.36.

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.