Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Raised by Veracity Capital LLC

Veracity Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,296 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.3% of Veracity Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,152,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,645,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 55.9% during the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 106,292 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,737,000 after buying an additional 10,421 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $504.36.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $448.99 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $422.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $427.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $364.13 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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 paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft Company 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.