Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Nemes Rush Group LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 77,028 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.7% of Nemes Rush Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Nemes Rush Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $34,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after buying an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,767,000 after acquiring an additional 97,075 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Microsoft by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,768,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,533 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,587,576,000 after acquiring an additional 45,220 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased 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 lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research 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 MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $425.20 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.08, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50 day moving average is $421.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $425.44.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft 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.