JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 1,798.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 174,070 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 164,900 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.6% of JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $59,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Gleason Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 111.7% in the 1st 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 raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 157.0% in the 1st 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 acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 57.5% in the 3rd quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 411 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. TD Cowen upped their target price on Microsoft from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Mizuho upped their target price on Microsoft from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Microsoft from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $345.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $376.34.
Insider Activity
In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,301,924.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,301,924.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 115,049 shares of company stock valued at $38,195,619 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Trading Up 1.2 %
Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $332.42 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $324.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $320.83. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $366.78.
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. The business had revenue of $56.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.23 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.07%.
Microsoft 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.
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