ELCO Management Co. LLC Has $5.90 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

ELCO Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,192 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.4% of ELCO Management Co. LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. ELCO Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Europe London LLP boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 35.9% during the second quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 101,040 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,160,000 after buying an additional 26,700 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Italy S.r.l. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 140.4% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Italy S.r.l. now owns 28,193 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,601,000 after acquiring an additional 16,466 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 4,927,271 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,202,244,000 after purchasing an additional 47,066 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.7% in the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,020,205 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $902,931,000 after purchasing an additional 90,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its holdings in Microsoft by 6.2% in the second quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 1,818,784 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $812,906,000 after purchasing an additional 105,479 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents 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 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp increased their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One investment 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 MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $422.54 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $360.36 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $421.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $425.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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.