Quantum Private Wealth LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Quantum Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 44,482 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 6.5% of Quantum Private Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Quantum Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,140,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stiles Financial Services Inc boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 15,501 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,674,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% during the third quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. now owns 21,670 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,326,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the period. Financial Strategies Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 12,962 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,433,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 12.8% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 436,564 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $187,853,000 after buying an additional 49,544 shares during the period. Finally, Presidio Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.4% in the third quarter. Presidio Capital Management LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,328,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’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 directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $418.79 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $421.69 and its 200 day moving average is $426.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp raised their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.