New World Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

New World Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,006 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 0.9% of New World Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. New World Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,131,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Leibman Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the first quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 9,745 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,100,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. VERITY Wealth Advisors increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the first quarter. VERITY Wealth Advisors now owns 9,141 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,846,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.2% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 818,261 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $344,259,000 after acquiring an additional 47,704 shares in the last quarter. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the first quarter. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,215 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,981,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 9.2% during the first quarter. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC now owns 3,494 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.20, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $324.39 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $419.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

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

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 28.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Argus boosted their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.68.

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.