Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Boosted by Derbend Asset Management

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 17th, 2023

Derbend Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,168 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.6% of Derbend Asset Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Derbend Asset Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after purchasing an additional 150,053,637 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $20,700,525,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 35,465.9% in the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $66,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,553,188 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 29,789.2% in the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,570,893 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,477,000 after purchasing an additional 16,515,452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 119,417,954 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,638,815,000 after purchasing an additional 14,652,150 shares during the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 115,049 shares of company stock worth $38,195,619 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $385.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, September 22nd. HSBC started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, September 15th. They set a “hold” rating and a $347.00 target price for the company. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $376.61.

Read Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $332.64 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $213.43 and a twelve month high of $366.78. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $324.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $322.21.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.23 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 15th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.96%.

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.