Davidson Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Davidson Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,635 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 0.9% of Davidson Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Davidson Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,285,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 10.1% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.7 %

Microsoft stock opened at $430.53 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 $428.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $428.87. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $366.50 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.52, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.