Smith Anglin Financial LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 11.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,586 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,484 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.6% of Smith Anglin Financial LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Smith Anglin Financial LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 2,744,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at $846,072,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Activity
In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective 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. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $503.03.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft
Microsoft Trading Down 0.6 %
NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $415.49 on Thursday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $422.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $426.13. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $362.90 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.
About Microsoft
(
Free Report)
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.
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