Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by BNC Wealth Management LLC

BNC Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,878 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 5.7% of BNC Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. BNC Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Hendley & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hendley & Co. Inc. now owns 54,122 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $24,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,813 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2,297.6% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 16,783 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,668,000 after purchasing an additional 16,083 shares in the last quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 96,422 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,096,000 after purchasing an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 60,768 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $27,160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $424.56 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $428.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $427.61. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $371.19 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock 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 purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

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.