Northern Capital Management Inc. Increases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Northern Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,245 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.5% of Northern Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Northern Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,800,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after buying an additional 6,129,708 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,824,173,000 after buying an additional 1,951,554 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $50,302,677,000 after buying an additional 556,020 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in 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 during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 142,731,177 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $34,172,705,000 after buying an additional 3,268,917 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3 %

MSFT opened at $328.66 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $213.43 and a 1-year high of $366.78. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.92, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $332.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $308.33.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 34.15% and a return on equity of 38.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 28.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $371.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $232.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $335.00 to $415.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $373.68.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.