JLB & Associates Inc. Buys 2,156 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 29th, 2023

JLB & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 2.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,308 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,156 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.5% of JLB & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. JLB & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $23,153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $351,001,000 after purchasing an additional 196,338 shares in the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $338.37 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $336.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $294.47. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $213.43 and a 1-year high of $366.78. The firm has a market cap of $2.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.14. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The business had revenue of $56.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.23 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 10.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total transaction of $1,550,250.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 110,206 shares in the company, valued at $34,169,370.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,081 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.54, for a total transaction of $1,588,015.74. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 94,328 shares in the company, valued at $29,481,273.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total value of $1,550,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 110,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,169,370.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 51,331 shares of company stock valued at $15,867,278. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 20th. BNP Paribas lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $310.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, April 24th. Moffett Nathanson raised their target price on Microsoft from $263.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Microsoft from $330.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.37.

Microsoft Profile

(Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.