New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 7,599 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,599 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $3,396,000. Microsoft makes up about 1.8% of New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $75,000. Bellevue Group AG raised its holdings in Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 241.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $415.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company’s fifty day moving average is $422.08 and its 200-day moving average is $425.44. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $362.90 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

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

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 given a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.