Evanson Asset Management LLC Has $11.96 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Evanson Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,804 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,003 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 0.9% of Evanson Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Evanson Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,964,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 216 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 62.0% in the 1st 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 period. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,958 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,348,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 11,025 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,638,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Connecticut Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,752 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,090,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 firm’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

MSFT opened at $417.00 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $362.90 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a fifty day moving average of $421.94 and a 200-day moving average of $426.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business 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%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.75%.

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.