IMS Capital Management Increases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

IMS Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,222 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 4.2% of IMS Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. IMS Capital Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $415.00 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $422.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $425.44. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’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 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value 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 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.