Wealth Enhancement & Preservation of GA LLC Boosts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 11th, 2023

Wealth Enhancement & Preservation of GA LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,104 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.0% of Wealth Enhancement & Preservation of GA LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Wealth Enhancement & Preservation of GA LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,057,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Gleason Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 111.7% during the first quarter. Gleason Group Inc. now owns 199 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Syverson Strege & Co lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 157.0% during the first quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 203 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $83,000. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 57.5% in the third quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 411 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $328.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $213.43 and a 1 year high of $366.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $324.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $320.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.89, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.14. Microsoft had a net margin of 34.15% and a return on equity of 38.70%. The business had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $371.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $350.00 to $415.00 in a report on Friday, July 21st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, September 15th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $347.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.34.

Get Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 115,049 shares of company stock worth $38,195,619 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Profile

(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.