Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 145.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,601 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,540 shares during the period. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $86,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 160.7% during the 4th quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 232 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $467.12.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $446.95 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.70, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $424.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $409.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $309.45 and a 52-week high of $456.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,686,433. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.