Greenline Partners LLC Has $6.29 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Greenline Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 34.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,768 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,517 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.0% of Greenline Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Greenline Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,931 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,310,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $69,840,000 after acquiring an additional 5,176 shares during the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 622.1% in the 2nd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 142,220 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,565,000 after purchasing an additional 122,526 shares during the last quarter. Prospector Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 21,917 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,796,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Circle Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Circle Wealth Management LLC now owns 108,931 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $48,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. 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 available through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $422.54 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $421.09 and a 200-day moving average of $424.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $360.36 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.