Ballentine Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 170,283 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,875 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.4% of Ballentine Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $76,108,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Ellis Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.3% in the second quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC now owns 9,315 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,163,000 after buying an additional 636 shares during the period. MRA Advisory Group grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. MRA Advisory Group now owns 17,182 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,679,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Bowie Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 26.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bowie Capital Management LLC now owns 255,940 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $114,392,000 after buying an additional 53,758 shares during the period. tru Independence LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the second quarter. tru Independence LLC now owns 11,253 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,030,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 39.2% in the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 224,949 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $100,551,000 after purchasing an additional 63,344 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7 %

MSFT opened at $424.60 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $420.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $424.56. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $326.94 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.76, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total value of $7,157,129.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 150,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,843,807.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen increased their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.58.

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.