Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Daymark Wealth Partners LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Daymark Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 392,386 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.6% of Daymark Wealth Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $168,844,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after buying an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 55.9% during the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $192,515,000 after purchasing an additional 8,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% in the second quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $69,840,000 after buying an additional 5,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $417.00 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $421.94 and a 200 day moving average of $426.30. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft Profile

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.