Ellsworth Advisors LLC Buys 9,587 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1,516.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,219 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,587 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth about $846,072,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $443.57 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.60, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.90. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $421.47 and its 200 day moving average is $427.00. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $364.13 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 58,578 shares of company stock worth $24,450,096. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $504.36.

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.