Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Financial Advisory Partners LLC

Financial Advisory Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,301 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 526 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.2% of Financial Advisory Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Financial Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,945,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 840,966 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $375,870,000 after purchasing an additional 5,842 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc increased its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 51,728 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,120,000 after buying an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments raised its stake in Microsoft by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 53,597 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,955,000 after buying an additional 3,476 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.4% in the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 5,189 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,320,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the second quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 12,650 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,654,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $435.27 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $420.92 and its 200 day moving average is $424.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. UBS Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.72.

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.