Axecap Investments LLC Takes Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Axecap Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,428 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,045,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective 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. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.46.

Microsoft Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $437.39 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.09, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $426.19 and a 200-day moving average of $428.20.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

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.