Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Colonial River Wealth Management LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Colonial River Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,227 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 5.3% of Colonial River Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Monument Capital Management lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 31,264 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,756,000 after acquiring an additional 806 shares during the period. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV now owns 19,980 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,513,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 143.5% in the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 384,058 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $144,421,000 after purchasing an additional 226,357 shares in the last quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC now owns 3,711 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares during the period. Finally, Gimbal Financial purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $1,399,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 17th. UBS Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.72.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8 %

MSFT stock opened at $435.27 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $420.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $424.03. The company has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.69, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $309.45 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is currently 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.