Reliant Investment Management LLC Buys 829 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Reliant Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,095 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 829 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.9% of Reliant Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Reliant Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,065,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 5.6% in the third quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 1,362 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,871 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,829,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 16,604 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,145,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 62,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $26,895,000 after buying an additional 2,301 shares during the period. Finally, Tealwood Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% during the third quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,033 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,596,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $417.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $421.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.19. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft 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.