Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 14th, 2023

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 29.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 74,307 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 17,017 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.8% of Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,422,000 after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its position in Microsoft by 20.8% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $351,001,000 after acquiring an additional 196,338 shares in the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,919,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. StockNews.com began coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Microsoft from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Microsoft from $340.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. HSBC began coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Friday, September 15th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $347.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Microsoft from $335.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 6th. 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.34.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Microsoft

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $327.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $324.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $321.26. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $366.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $55.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.23 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side 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. 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 0.92%. 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%.

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, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total value 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 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.

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.