Wedmont Private Capital Buys 5,611 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,202 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 5,611 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.1% of Wedmont Private Capital’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $37,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $417.00 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 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $426.30. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 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 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.