BLB&B Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 1.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 161,070 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,107 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.8% of BLB&B Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $54,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its position in 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 raised its position in 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 raised its position in 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 raised its position in Microsoft by 8.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. TD Cowen increased their price target on Microsoft from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. StockNews.com began coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $385.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, September 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $345.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $376.34.
Insider Activity at Microsoft
In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at $262,963,391.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 have sold a total of 115,049 shares of company stock worth $38,195,619 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %
Microsoft stock opened at $327.73 on Monday. 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 company has a market cap 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. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $324.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $321.87.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The firm had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared 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 is Wednesday, November 15th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 30.96%.
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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