Beacon Wealthcare LLC Has $590,000 Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Beacon Wealthcare LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,370 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 0.2% of Beacon Wealthcare LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Beacon Wealthcare LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $590,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rebalance LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the second quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,542,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the second quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,834,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 6,397 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,691,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the second quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 913 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,309,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value 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 trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $417.00 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $421.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.30. 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 twelve month low of $362.90 and a twelve month high of $468.35. 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders 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 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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.