Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by NewSquare Capital LLC

NewSquare Capital LLC increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,817 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Courier Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the second quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 82,588 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,913,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 295,313 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $131,990,000 after buying an additional 6,659 shares in the last quarter. Security Financial Services INC. increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Security Financial Services INC. now owns 5,634 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,518,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. now owns 54,555 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $24,384,000 after acquiring an additional 3,025 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 17,648 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,888,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4 %

Microsoft stock opened at $433.51 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $468.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $420.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $424.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $3.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.53, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. New Street Research started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price target on the stock. Argus increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.94.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft 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 transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Microsoft

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.