Abbrea Capital LLC Has $35.84 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Abbrea Capital LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 105,258 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.5% of Abbrea Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Abbrea Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $35,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% during the first 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 in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $351,001,000 after acquiring an additional 196,338 shares in the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the first quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.2% during the first quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% during the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $376.17 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $335.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $331.14. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $219.35 and a one year high of $376.35. 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 company has a market cap of $2.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.88.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.34. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.79% and a net margin of 35.31%. The business had revenue of $56.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.35 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Microsoft from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Guggenheim upgraded Microsoft from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 25th. Citigroup upped their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $432.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. Wedbush upped their target price on Microsoft from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.