Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY

Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 123,715 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 509 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 3.4% of Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $55,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Legacy Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1,181.1% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC now owns 8,596 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,616,000 after purchasing an additional 7,925 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% in the first quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 42,064 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,697,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 6.1% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 209,717 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,232,000 after buying an additional 11,981 shares during the period. Partnership Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,609,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,216,000 after buying an additional 2,888 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $427.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s fifty day moving average is $420.17 and its 200-day moving average is $424.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $324.39 and a one year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Company 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.