Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV Acquires 3,139 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 32.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,825 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 3,139 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.2% of Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% in the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.46.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $436.60 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $427.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $428.32. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft 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.