Bellecapital International Ltd. Boosts Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bellecapital International Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 58,695 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,179 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 5.0% of Bellecapital International Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Bellecapital International Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arlington Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arlington Partners LLC now owns 8,389 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,610,000 after buying an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. Benin Management CORP lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 62,032 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $26,692,000 after buying an additional 1,942 shares during the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC now owns 12,309 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,296,000 after buying an additional 1,055 shares during the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 14,209 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,114,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,864 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,814,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $447.27 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $364.13 and a twelve month high of $468.35. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $424.16 and a 200-day moving average of $427.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $505.43.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate 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.