Investment Advisory Group LLC Purchases 322 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Investment Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,381 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.8% of Investment Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Investment Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during 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 period. Quarry LP bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Bellevue Group AG boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $437.42 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $420.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.78. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $364.13 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total transaction of $1,077,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,203,211.24. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total value of $7,157,129.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 150,161 shares in the company, valued at $61,843,807.85. This represents a 10.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 96,578 shares of company stock valued at $39,679,056. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.