Vestcor Inc Buys 7,188 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Vestcor Inc boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 221,830 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,188 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.0% of Vestcor Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $95,453,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. High Falls Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the third quarter. High Falls Advisors Inc now owns 8,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,626,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Conway Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth $4,637,000. Executive Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth $23,174,000. Abel Hall LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 8,093 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,483,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth $2,794,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.95 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $380.38 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $428.83 and a 200-day moving average of $427.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.