JMG Financial Group Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,074 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 112 shares during the quarter. JMG Financial Group Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 150,053,637 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $20,700,525,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 35,465.9% in the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $66,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,553,188 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 29,789.2% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 14,652,150 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. HSBC upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $347.00 to $413.00 in a report on Thursday, October 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Microsoft from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Fundamental Research set a $298.10 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $384.34.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at $64,941,369.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Stock Up 0.2 %
NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $338.11 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $213.43 and a twelve month high of $366.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $326.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $325.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $56.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.52 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.79% and a net margin of 35.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.35 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The company 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.33%.
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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