Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Dupree Financial Group LLC

Dupree Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,985 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Dupree Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $854,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after buying an additional 1,467 shares during the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 22.6% during the first quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 46,741 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,665,000 after buying an additional 8,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transcendent Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 23,206 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,763,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $454.46 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $425.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $428.04. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $505.43.

About Microsoft

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.