Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Raises Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,703,759 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 467,540 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 4.0% of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,842,133,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter worth $18,733,827,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $350,712,742,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $474.82 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $502.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $502.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.77, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $630.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.03.

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.