Oak Harvest Investment Services Buys 5,294 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Oak Harvest Investment Services grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 37.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,495 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,294 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.5% of Oak Harvest Investment Services’ portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Oak Harvest Investment Services’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,713,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after buying an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors increased its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,160,020,000 after acquiring an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,381,692 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,544,532,000 after purchasing an additional 403,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,640,068 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,096,428,000 after purchasing an additional 360,171 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $435.27 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $420.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 paid a $0.83 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $494.72.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last 90 days. 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.