Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Lifted by Quent Capital LLC

Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,804 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,309 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.7% of Quent Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Quent Capital LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew 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 valued at $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $846,072,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $4.41 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $413.38. 6,998,756 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,467,928. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The business's fifty day moving average price is $422.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.