Beacon Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,984 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 504 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.8% of Beacon Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Beacon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,780,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after acquiring an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $4,000,376,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 277.8% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,004,341 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,633,912,000 after purchasing an additional 5,150,160 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $424.14 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.72, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of $436.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $422.67. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $309.45 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Macquarie upped their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.72.

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.