AlphaMark Advisors LLC Sells 192 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

AlphaMark Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 986 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 192 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Microsoft by 77.6% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after buying an additional 2,744,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth about $846,072,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $504.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total transaction of $874,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 51,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,675,916.64. This trade represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the business’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 completion of 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 90 days, insiders sold 58,578 shares of company stock worth $24,450,096. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $443.57 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $421.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $427.00. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $364.13 and a 12 month high of $468.35. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.60, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.