Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires 309 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,927 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 309 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.0% of Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,575,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Rebalance LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the second quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,834,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 6,397 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,691,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 913 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,309,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total transaction of $1,077,175.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 53,852 shares in the company, valued at $23,203,211.24. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 212,931 shares of company stock valued at $87,297,343. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $430.98 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $420.84 and a 200-day moving average of $426.55.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. 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 report on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Three 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

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.