Trust Co of Kansas lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,624 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 1,475 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 5.1% of Trust Co of Kansas' portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Trust Co of Kansas' holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,596,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $41,318,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 55.9% in the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the second 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 period. Finally, Quest Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% during the second quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant's stock worth $69,840,000 after buying an additional 5,176 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %
Shares of MSFT traded up $4.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $417.00. The company had a trading volume of 24,814,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,244,906. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $421.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.19. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. 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 posted its 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. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 27.39%.
Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $503.03.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
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.
Further Reading
Before you consider Microsoft, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Microsoft wasn't on the list.
While Microsoft currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
If a company's CEO, COO, and CFO were all selling shares of their stock, would you want to know?
Get This Free Report