Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by WJ Interests LLC

WJ Interests LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,115 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 0.2% of WJ Interests LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. WJ Interests LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 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, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $505.43.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $447.27 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $364.13 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $424.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $427.63. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

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.