TAP Consulting LLC Sells 56 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

TAP Consulting LLC lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,239 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. TAP Consulting LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,001,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. First Community Trust NA increased its position in Microsoft by 5.8% in the first quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 20,517 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,632,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121 shares during the period. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 8.8% in the first quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,087 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,396,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at $45,709,000. Private Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Private Capital Management LLC now owns 7,452 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,802,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, MCIA Inc increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. MCIA Inc now owns 3,398 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,448,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7 %

Microsoft stock opened at $424.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $420.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $424.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.76, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $326.94 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 28.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’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 owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total transaction of $7,157,129.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 150,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,843,807.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Argus boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.58.

Microsoft 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.