Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Trust Co of the South

Trust Co of the South grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,264 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.4% of Trust Co of the South’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Trust Co of the South’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.6% during the third quarter. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 893 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $384,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 21,393 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,205,000 after purchasing an additional 2,844 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. now owns 15,088 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,491,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 11.7% in the third quarter. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,475 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% in the third quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,661 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,763,000 after buying an additional 742 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $415.00 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $422.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $426.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.20 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. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

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.