BIP Wealth LLC Has $6.30 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BIP Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,638 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,132 shares during the quarter. BIP Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $548.00 to $540.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $509.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $444.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a fifty day moving average of $431.05 and a 200-day moving average of $425.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

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

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.