Gateway Advisory LLC Has $8.87 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Gateway Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,837 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,914 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.5% of Gateway Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Gateway Advisory LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Main Line Retirement Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Main Line Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 2,873 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.6% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 268,671 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,035,000 after acquiring an additional 1,478 shares during the last quarter. Westhampton Capital LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Westhampton Capital LLC now owns 8,524 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,586,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Synergy Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 12.9% in the 1st quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 92,673 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $38,989,000 after acquiring an additional 10,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. now owns 74,162 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,202,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $422.54 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $421.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $425.07. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $360.36 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were 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 directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Microsoft

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.