Quest Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 26.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,763 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 790 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,682,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. New Harbor Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 worth $1,274,000 after buying an additional 2,264 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its stake in Microsoft by 19.0% during the second quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 81,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,427,000 after buying an additional 12,994 shares during the period. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the first quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 12,521 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,268,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the period. Finally, Leeward Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 35,610 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,982,000 after acquiring an additional 4,861 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $506.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.58.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $424.60 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.76, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $326.94 and a 52 week high of $468.35. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $420.33 and a 200 day moving average of $424.56.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. 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 dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

Microsoft Company 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.