Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Oak Ridge Investments LLC

Oak Ridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 18,544 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 9.8% of Oak Ridge Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Oak Ridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $113,399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth $2,645,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after buying an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 389.2% in the third quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 53,770 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,137,000 after acquiring an additional 42,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Harbor Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 55.9% during the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $424.83 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $428.90 and its 200 day moving average is $428.85. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $366.50 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

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.