GDS Wealth Management Buys 6,087 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

GDS Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 17.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,539 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,087 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.0% of GDS Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. GDS Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the second quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 24,430 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,919,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 220,102 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $98,375,000 after purchasing an additional 2,740 shares during the last quarter. Excalibur Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 29,318 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $13,104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Lmcg Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the second quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 204,567 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $91,431,000 after buying an additional 1,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,671,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $410.37 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.77 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $420.69 and a 200 day moving average of $424.62.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.08 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.98 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft Company 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.