Balefire LLC Buys 1,187 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Balefire LLC increased its Microsoft stake by 6.2% in the third quarter, purchasing 1,187 shares to hold 20,479 shares valued at about $10.5 million.
• Microsoft beat quarterly estimates, reporting $4.89 in earnings per share and $92.28 billion in revenue; revenue rose 18.8% year over year. Analysts’ consensus rating was “Moderate Buy,” with a $609.54 average price target.
• Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend from $0.91 to $0.98 per share. Company insiders sold 147,809 shares worth approximately $74.8 million over the past three months.

Balefire LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,479 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,187 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.6% of Balefire LLC's holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Balefire LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $27,338,370,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $18,306,443,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,928,664,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $5,653,812,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $4,000,706,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.00, for a total value of $2,655,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 54,412 shares in the company, valued at $28,892,772. The trade was a 8.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 147,809 shares of company stock valued at $74,769,646. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. William Blair started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $523.00 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $559.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.30, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $518.72 and a 200-day moving average of $441.64.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $92.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.28% and a net margin of 41.17%. The business's revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.13 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.91 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.00%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Investors following MSFT have been watching these headlines:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is collaborating with DuPont and NobleAI on AI-enabled research and development, adding another potential application for its AI technology. DuPont, Microsoft and NobleAI collaborate in R&D innovation with AI
• 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
• Negative Sentiment: Anthropic’s new workplace tools, including spreadsheet software, are intensifying concerns about competition with Microsoft 365 and Copilot. Microsoft Stock Falls as Anthropic Takes Aim at Office Work

Microsoft Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.