Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 20.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 102,403 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 17,605 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.4% of GAMMA Investing LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $44,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first 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 grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $846,072,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $415.76 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $422.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.13. 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 one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.75%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.