TPG Advisors LLC Makes New $3.70 Million Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

TPG Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 8,283 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $3,702,000. Microsoft accounts for about 3.2% of TPG Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 69.3% during the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 116,557 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $52,095,000 after acquiring an additional 47,703 shares during the period. Center Lake Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 42.9% during the second quarter. Center Lake Capital Management LLC now owns 25,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,174,000 after acquiring an additional 7,500 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.6% during the second quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 6,100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,726,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,302,092 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,475,877,000 after acquiring an additional 43,100 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.2% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 5,644,918 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,522,995,000 after acquiring an additional 331,203 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $425.43 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $360.36 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $420.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $424.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.