Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Novare Capital Management LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Novare Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,296 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 866 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 4.4% of Novare Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Novare Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $51,763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Microsoft by 62.0% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after buying an additional 43,327 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,099,000 after buying an additional 1,467 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 173,802 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $73,122,000 after acquiring an additional 18,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC now owns 334,201 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $140,605,000 after acquiring an additional 11,460 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note 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, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $430.98 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $420.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.55. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $362.90 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.56, a PEG ratio of 2.25 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business earned $2.99 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 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 issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 212,931 shares of company stock worth $87,297,343 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.