Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Boosted by Advance Capital Management Inc.

Advance Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,366 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.2% of Advance Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Advance Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after acquiring an additional 842,884 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,426,767,000 after acquiring an additional 97,075 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,768,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,587,576,000 after acquiring an additional 45,220 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reduced their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $417.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $421.94 and its 200-day moving average is $426.07. 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 results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968. 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.