Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Boosted by Hall Laurie J Trustee

Hall Laurie J Trustee lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,146 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,687 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 8.5% of Hall Laurie J Trustee’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Hall Laurie J Trustee’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Bellevue Group AG lifted its position in Microsoft by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 241.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This represents a 6.84 % 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 worth $74,956,968 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $417.00 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $421.94 and a 200-day moving average of $426.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors 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 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 currently 27.39%.

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.