Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. Buys 459 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,185 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.0% of Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,231,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,767,000 after acquiring an additional 97,075 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Microsoft by 6.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,768,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,533 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,651,058 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,734,651,000 after acquiring an additional 501,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,587,576,000 after purchasing an additional 45,220 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $380.38 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $428.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $427.53.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.62.

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.