Biltmore Family Office LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Biltmore Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,786 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 4,209 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.0% of Biltmore Family Office LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Biltmore Family Office LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Optas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Optas LLC now owns 25,001 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,996,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 44,418 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,652,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd increased its holdings in Microsoft by 199.7% in the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 107,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,356,000 after purchasing an additional 71,769 shares in the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management increased its holdings in Microsoft by 41.9% in the third quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 2,908 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,999,000. 69.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total transaction of $9,182,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total value of $1,550,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 110,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,169,370.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total value of $9,182,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,848 shares of company stock valued at $16,635,227 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $325.92 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.31, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.88. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $213.43 and a 1 year high of $326.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $295.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $263.88.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $52.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.01 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. BNP Paribas downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $310.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, April 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Microsoft from $332.00 to $340.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Microsoft from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Moffett Nathanson lifted their price target on Microsoft from $263.00 to $306.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Microsoft from $320.00 to $340.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.69.

Microsoft Profile

(Get Rating)

Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.