Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. Has $635,000 Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,475 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the quarter. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares during the period. New Harbor Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $192,515,000 after acquiring an additional 8,290 shares during the last quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% during the second quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $69,840,000 after acquiring an additional 5,176 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 25.7% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 250,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $112,031,000 after purchasing an additional 51,273 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.8 %

Microsoft stock opened at $415.00 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $362.90 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $422.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $426.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue 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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership 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 issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 24.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Oppenheimer lowered shares of 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 set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.