Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Increased by NCP Inc.

NCP Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,531 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,689 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.4% of NCP Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. NCP Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,078,099 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Microsoft by 77.6% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,642,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter worth about $846,072,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $415.00 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $362.90 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $422.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $425.53. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized 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 buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. 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 dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.