Versant Capital Management Inc Has $13.97 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 32,471 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,068 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.2% of Versant Capital Management Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft by 62.0% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares during the period. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.8% in the first quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,958 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,348,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.7% in the first quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 11,025 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,638,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Connecticut Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,752 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,090,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $417.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $421.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.07. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 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 an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. 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, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.