Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Lifted by MCIA Inc

MCIA Inc increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,721 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the period. MCIA Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Gleason Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 111.7% in the 1st quarter. Gleason Group Inc. now owns 199 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Syverson Strege & Co boosted its stake in Microsoft by 157.0% in the 1st quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 203 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $83,000. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 57.5% in the 3rd quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 411 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $262,963,391.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of Microsoft 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 directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 25th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $340.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $384.34.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $337.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $326.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $325.31. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $213.43 and a twelve month high of $366.78. The firm has a market cap of $2.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.34. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.31% and a return on equity of 38.79%. The business had revenue of $56.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.11 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.04%.

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.