Mason & Associates Inc Buys 803 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mason & Associates Inc increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,580 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 803 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.1% of Mason & Associates Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Mason & Associates Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after purchasing an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,591,126,000 after purchasing an additional 277,881 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,381,692 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,544,532,000 after purchasing an additional 403,409 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $435.15 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $422.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $423.73. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $309.45 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $494.72.

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.