Mustard Seed Financial LLC Has $947,000 Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mustard Seed Financial LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 17.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,200 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 0.8% of Mustard Seed Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Mustard Seed Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Bellevue Group AG boosted its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st 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 period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% during the 2nd 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. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total value of $1,077,175.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,203,211.24. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,578 shares of company stock worth $55,279,956 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $431.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $420.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $426.70. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year 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 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 the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.