Kessler Investment Group LLC Buys 640 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Kessler Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,545 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.6% of Kessler Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Kessler Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,968,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fortis Group Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 12,264 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,277,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 19,671 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,464,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 36.1% in the third quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. now owns 9,855 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,241,000 after purchasing an additional 2,613 shares during the period. Moneywise Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at about $1,559,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the third quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 48,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,961,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $505.43.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $447.27 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $424.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $427.61. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $364.13 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows 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 of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.