Sycomore Asset Management grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 7.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 125,339 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,188 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 9.8% of Sycomore Asset Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Sycomore Asset Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $42,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Guild Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% during the second quarter. Guild Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,962 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,030,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Baugh & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the second quarter. Baugh & Associates LLC now owns 45,506 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,497,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. Sabal Trust CO raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.5% during the second quarter. Sabal Trust CO now owns 189,959 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $64,689,000 after acquiring an additional 14,906 shares during the last quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the second quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC now owns 13,736 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,678,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sander Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.0% during the second quarter. Sander Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 223,981 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,221,000 after acquiring an additional 12,760 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Microsoft from $340.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Redburn Partners dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 11th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 28th. Guggenheim upgraded Microsoft from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Microsoft from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.34.
Microsoft Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $327.73 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $324.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $321.87. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $213.43 and a 52 week high of $366.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.91.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $56.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.23 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 15th. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 30.96%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the company’s 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 owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 115,049 shares of company stock worth $38,195,619 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Company 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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