LJI Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

LJI Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,156 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 0.8% of LJI Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. LJI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 67.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404,348 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its position in Microsoft by 56.9% during the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,344,566 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,299,767,000 after buying an additional 1,938,304 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $428.50 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $429.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.92. The firm has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $509.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $512.93.

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.