Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Lifted by Sage Advisors LLC

Sage Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 46.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,948 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.4% of Sage Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Sage Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $75,000. Bellevue Group AG lifted its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 241.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of 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 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $415.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. 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 50 day moving average of $422.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $426.00.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. 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 dividend payout ratio is 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Microsoft

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.