Riversedge Advisors LLC Acquires 2,445 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Riversedge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 19.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,142 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,445 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.0% of Riversedge Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Riversedge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 315,653,206 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $117,744,959,000 after acquiring an additional 8,944,917 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,338,370,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 64,375,360 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $24,013,297,000 after purchasing an additional 543,172 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $18,306,443,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in Microsoft by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 46,694,778 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,418,076,000 after purchasing an additional 5,019,702 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Latest Microsoft News

Here’s some of the latest news about MSFT:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s upcoming Ignite conference is drawing attention to Azure and Copilot developments, reinforcing the company’s AI-growth story. Bill Ackman also described Microsoft’s competitive position as “really, really strong,” arguing that enterprise relationships and its established products remain valuable. Microsoft Is Off Its Record High. Next Week Could See the Stock Reignited. Bill Ackman says Microsoft’s position is strong
• Positive Sentiment: ETF activity showed net buying of Microsoft shares on Nov. 10, with 53 funds buying and 16 selling, a potential sign of institutional demand. ETFs Are Buying Microsoft
• Negative Sentiment: An outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, Microsoft 365 and Copilot. Service interruptions can frustrate customers and raise questions about reliability, though Microsoft said it was working to restore access. Outlook, Teams and More Microsoft Programs Disrupted by Outage

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $608.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $662.00 to $722.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.54.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $523.00 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $559.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $518.72 and its 200-day moving average is $441.64.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.72 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.28% and a net margin of 41.17%. The business had revenue of $92.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.13 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 19.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 147,809 shares of company stock valued at $74,769,646. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, and digital solutions for consumers, businesses, and public-sector organizations. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Azure cloud computing, LinkedIn, GitHub, Surface devices, and Xbox gaming products and services. Microsoft also provides business software, cybersecurity tools, and artificial intelligence technologies.