Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Boosted by Allworth Financial LP

Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 304,469 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,018 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 0.8% of Allworth Financial LP’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Allworth Financial LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $131,013,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $2,645,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position 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 valued at $882,816,000 after buying an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 389.2% during the 3rd quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 53,770 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,137,000 after acquiring an additional 42,778 shares during the period. Finally, New Harbor Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $436.60 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $427.02 and a 200-day moving average of $428.42. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $366.50 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.46.

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.