Axecap Investments LLC Acquires Shares of 2,428 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Axecap Investments LLC bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,428 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,045,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,645,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant's stock worth $882,816,000 after buying an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA grew its position in Microsoft by 0.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $41,318,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 389.2% during the third quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 53,770 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,137,000 after acquiring an additional 42,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Harbor Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant's stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $508.46.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT traded down $0.36 on Thursday, reaching $437.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,883,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,589,182. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $366.50 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $426.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $428.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is 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 issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft Company 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.