Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Purchases Shares of 19,300 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 19,300 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $8,626,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares during the last quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant's stock worth $192,515,000 after buying an additional 8,290 shares during the last quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 3.4% in the second quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $69,840,000 after buying an additional 5,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 25.7% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 250,657 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $112,031,000 after acquiring an additional 51,273 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup decreased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $503.03.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was 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 $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company's stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5 %

Microsoft stock traded up $2.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $425.20. The stock had a trading volume of 21,478,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,440,346. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $421.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $425.44. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $362.90 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.78, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.75%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.