Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Farrow Financial Inc.

Farrow Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 7,669 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.1% of Farrow Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Farrow Financial Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction 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 $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % 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 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $435.25 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $427.02 and a 200-day moving average of $428.51. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $366.50 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.