Smith Anglin Financial LLC Purchases 1,484 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Smith Anglin Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,586 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,484 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 0.6% of Smith Anglin Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Smith Anglin Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Diversified Trust Co increased its position in Microsoft by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 215,466 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $92,715,000 after buying an additional 30,553 shares in the last quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 12,698 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,464,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178 shares in the last quarter. GoalFusion Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the third quarter. GoalFusion Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,203 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 102,403 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $44,064,000 after buying an additional 17,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 3,351,220 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,442,030,000 after purchasing an additional 41,589 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $415.49 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $422.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $426.13.

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

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

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 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

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.