Providence Capital Advisors LLC Buys 29 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,606 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 3.7% of Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Echo45 Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Echo45 Advisors LLC now owns 5,856 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,464,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Chico Wealth RIA grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 31.7% in the 1st quarter. Chico Wealth RIA now owns 1,913 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $805,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. MGO Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. MGO Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,040 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,658,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Talbot Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 206,954 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $87,070,000 after acquiring an additional 2,196 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7 %

MSFT opened at $422.54 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $421.09 and its 200-day moving average is $424.95. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $360.36 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.86, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

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.