Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Hobart Private Capital LLC

Hobart Private Capital LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,648 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,192 shares during the period. Hobart Private Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Seek First Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,373,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.03.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3%

MSFT opened at $476.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.88, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $502.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $502.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.91 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.89%.

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.