Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Davies Financial Advisors Inc.

Davies Financial Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,138 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 243 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.8% of Davies Financial Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Davies Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second 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 shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $75,000. Bellevue Group AG raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 241.4% in the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently 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 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.2 %

MSFT opened at $422.99 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $421.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.42. 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. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91.

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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign 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.