Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Boston Standard Wealth Management LLC

Boston Standard Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,516 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 0.1% of Boston Standard Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Boston Standard Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares during the last quarter. Curtis Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Curtis Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,326 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,820,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Vantage Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.1% during the 1st quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 105,478 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $44,380,000 after purchasing an additional 22,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 107,264 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,185,000 after purchasing an additional 4,065 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $415.49 on Thursday. The company 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. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $422.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.13. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $362.90 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.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Microsoft

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.