Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Secure Asset Management LLC

Secure Asset Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 15.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,890 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 3,384 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.9% of Secure Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Secure Asset Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,140,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth about $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% during 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,744,900 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new position in Microsoft during the first quarter worth $846,072,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $2.79 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $446.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,502,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,514,512. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.61, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $364.13 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $427.00. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $504.36.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total transaction of $7,157,129.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 150,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,843,807.85. This represents a 10.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 58,578 shares of company stock worth $24,450,096 in the last ninety days. 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.