Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC Invests $316.66 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 708,493 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $316,661,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 11.1% of Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Copperwynd Financial LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 7,990 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,343,000 after purchasing an additional 1,036 shares during the period. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 92.3% during the second quarter. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 21,162 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,459,000 after buying an additional 10,158 shares during the period. Full Sail Capital LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Full Sail Capital LLC now owns 7,307 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,266,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 91,602 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $40,941,000 after acquiring an additional 4,330 shares during the period. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,929 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,885,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $425.20 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $421.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $425.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.08, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 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.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase 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 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.75%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.