Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC Purchases 102 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,123 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at about $2,645,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. New Harbor Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 55.9% during the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.9% during the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 106,292 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,737,000 after buying an additional 10,421 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $505.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $447.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $364.13 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company’s fifty day moving average is $424.16 and its 200-day moving average is $427.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business 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 firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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.