Bennett Selby Investments LP Has $8.07 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,757 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.4% of Bennett Selby Investments LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Bennett Selby Investments LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,612,000 after buying an additional 43,327 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,099,000 after buying an additional 1,467 shares during the period. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,722,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV grew its position in Microsoft by 42.0% in the first quarter. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV now owns 4,852 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $422.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $362.90 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $421.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $426.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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 paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company 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.