Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Parisi Gray Wealth Management’s 7th Largest Position

Parisi Gray Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,519 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 55 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.5% of Parisi Gray Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Parisi Gray Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,550,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. New Harbor Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% during the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Investment Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $69,840,000 after purchasing an additional 5,176 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $415.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $422.46 and its 200 day moving average is $426.13. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.28, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock 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 purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft 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 sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % 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 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.