Narwhal Capital Management Increases Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Narwhal Capital Management increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 157,138 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 594 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.6% of Narwhal Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Narwhal Capital Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $70,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth about $5,587,119,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Microsoft by 77.6% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after acquiring an additional 2,744,900 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $989,814,000. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $846,072,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $418.16 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $324.39 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $419.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $424.54. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

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 transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total transaction of $7,157,129.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 150,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,843,807.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.