BlackDiamond Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,697 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 471 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.6% of BlackDiamond Wealth Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. BlackDiamond Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,052,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Good Life Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the second quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 54,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,396,000 after buying an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the second quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 10,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,665,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Planning Center Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 24.4% in the second quarter. Planning Center Inc. now owns 4,849 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,651,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.6% in the first quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 1,518,749 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $437,855,000 after purchasing an additional 94,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the second quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 19,877 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,769,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Guggenheim raised shares of Microsoft from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $385.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, September 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $398.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 20th. Finally, Fundamental Research set a $298.10 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $384.34.
View Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft
Microsoft Stock Up 2.5 %
Shares of MSFT stock opened at $369.67 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $219.35 and a 1 year high of $370.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $332.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $329.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.79, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.88.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.34. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.31% and a return on equity of 38.79%. The firm had revenue of $56.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 26.33%.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is 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.
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