Sage Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sage Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 46.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,948 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.4% of Sage Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Sage Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,401 shares during the last quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 55.9% in the second 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 period. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $192,515,000 after buying an additional 8,290 shares in the last quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.4% during the second quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $69,840,000 after buying an additional 5,176 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased 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 worth $112,031,000 after acquiring an additional 51,273 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $415.00 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $422.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $426.00. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.75%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock 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 reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837. 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.