Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by RDST Capital LLC

RDST Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 90,895 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,920 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 10.7% of RDST Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. RDST Capital LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $40,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter worth about $846,072,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7 %

MSFT traded down $2.89 during trading on Friday, hitting $422.54. The company had a trading volume of 16,891,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,265,076. The company has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $360.36 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $421.09 and a 200-day moving average of $425.07. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company 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%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.75%.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.