Davis Rea LTD. Has $14.88 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Davis Rea LTD. cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,302 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,769 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 7.4% of Davis Rea LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Davis Rea LTD.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Bayesian Capital Management LP increased its stake in Microsoft by 60.1% in the 4th quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,238,000 after acquiring an additional 18,200 shares during the last quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,545,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $550,086,000 after purchasing an additional 5,253 shares during the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 296.7% in the first quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,538,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $420.69 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $418.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $425.13. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $311.21 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

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

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

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 $0.83 dividend. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, 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 transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was 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 $328,473,703.53. 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. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho upped their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. New Street Research began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.94.

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.