Element Capital Management LLC Has $21.60 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Element Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 264.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 48,321 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,077 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.7% of Element Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Element Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rebalance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the second quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,542,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. First National Bank Sioux Falls raised its position 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 worth $2,834,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 6,397 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,691,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Flagship Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 913 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,309,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $406.35 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $420.82 and its 200 day moving average is $424.58. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. 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 $334.69 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was 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 $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

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.