Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Stolper Co

Stolper Co raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,344 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.6% of Stolper Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Stolper Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. New Harbor Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 25.7% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 250,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $112,031,000 after acquiring an additional 51,273 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 81,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,427,000 after purchasing an additional 12,994 shares during the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 296.7% during the first quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Investment Group LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $502.97.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $432.53 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $334.69 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $421.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 28.11%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 $353,189,942.01. This trade represents 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 valued at $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.