Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Boosted by Boltwood Capital Management

Boltwood Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,592 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.1% of Boltwood Capital Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Boltwood Capital Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,140,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter worth approximately $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake 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 worth $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Microsoft by 77.6% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $846,072,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. This represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $415.00 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $362.90 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The business’s 50 day moving average is $422.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $426.00. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire 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 stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.75%.

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.