Willis Investment Counsel Buys 565 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Willis Investment Counsel grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 107,305 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.0% of Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $46,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Affiance Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the third quarter. Affiance Financial LLC now owns 12,241 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,268,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 26,868 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,561,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Stonekeep Investments LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Stonekeep Investments LLC now owns 5,701 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% in the third quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 1,381,517 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $594,467,000 after purchasing an additional 49,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 16,915 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,279,000 after buying an additional 1,085 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. KeyCorp upped their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $423.46 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $420.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $426.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. 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 payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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.