Hara Capital LLC Acquires 2,552 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Hara Capital LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 37.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,329 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,552 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.5% of Hara Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Hara Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,014,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. First National Bank Sioux Falls grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,834,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Flagship Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.8% during the second quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 913 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,309,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,455,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $424.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $371.19 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $428.65 and a 200 day moving average of $427.59.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently 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.