Abacus Planning Group Inc. Acquires 1,773 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,549 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,773 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.6% of Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter valued at $5,587,119,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,642,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth $989,814,000. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $846,072,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was 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 company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $415.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $417.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $424.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $324.39 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 28.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.47.

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.