Apella Capital LLC Boosts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 21st, 2023

Apella Capital LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,883 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,318 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.1% of Apella Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd lifted its stake in Microsoft by 199.7% in the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 107,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,356,000 after acquiring an additional 71,769 shares during the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 41.9% in the third quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 2,908 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 6.4% in the second quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 67,872 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,432,000 after acquiring an additional 4,081 shares during the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 9.2% in the third quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,751 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,943,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 2,789,479 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $649,670,000 after acquiring an additional 37,545 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Fundamental Research decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $269.73 to $259.47 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. UBS Group set a $275.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.30.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $272.23 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.25, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $213.43 and a one year high of $315.95. The company’s fifty day moving average is $253.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.93.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.17 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.05% and a return on equity of 39.87%. The business’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total value of $269,380.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 117,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,614,975.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Profile

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.