Blue Capital Inc. Invests $1 Million in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Blue Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,019 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,004,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 386.7% during the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Baird R W upgraded Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Rothschild Redb cut Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $643.00 to $648.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $632.34.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0%

Microsoft stock opened at $478.53 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $504.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $502.05. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.03, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

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.