Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Chicago Capital LLC

Chicago Capital LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 269,385 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 10,306 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.6% of Chicago Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $120,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 282,295 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $118,766,000 after purchasing an additional 5,044 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in Microsoft by 5.1% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 80,247 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $34,208,000 after buying an additional 3,902 shares during the period. Bank of New Hampshire increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 15.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 36,567 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,384,000 after acquiring an additional 4,913 shares in the last quarter. Grassi Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 162,755 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,474,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416 shares during the period. Finally, Grandview Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC now owns 39,246 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,512,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.68.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $418.78 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $419.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $424.55. The company has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.26, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $324.39 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.74%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.