Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. Acquires 276 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,359 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.7% of Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position 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 valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% in the first 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 raised its stake in Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $417.00 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $362.90 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $421.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.