Williams & Novak LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Williams & Novak LLC reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,573 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 230 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.0% of Williams & Novak LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Williams & Novak LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG raised its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 241.4% in the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group decreased their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was 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 owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’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 value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

Microsoft stock opened at $417.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $421.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $426.07. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $362.90 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $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 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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.75%.

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 buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.