Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Increased by Enterprise Bank & Trust Co

Enterprise Bank & Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 36,946 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 529 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.1% of Enterprise Bank & Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 91,202 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $37,351,000 after buying an additional 5,611 shares in the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 48,896 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,040,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.1% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,992 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,578,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 829,883 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $357,099,000 after acquiring an additional 26,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,883 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $810,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.79 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $421.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $426.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.