Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 201,178 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 5,107 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.3% of Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $86,567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Seed Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the second quarter. Seed Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,162 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,754,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 16,125 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,207,000 after buying an additional 2,131 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley grew its position in Microsoft by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 12,206 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,455,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Midwest Financial Group LLC now owns 9,517 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,254,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $5.61 during trading on Friday, reaching $418.95. The stock had a trading volume of 20,131,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,908,811. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.57, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $428.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $427.53. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $380.38 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

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 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 the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price 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. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $511.62.

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.