Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Lifted by Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC

Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,627 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.4% of Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Custom Index Systems LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 7,262 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190 shares in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 2,109 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $907,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,706 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,550,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 11.0% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. now owns 24,243 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,432,000 after buying an additional 2,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 31.7% in the third quarter. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. now owns 6,701 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,883,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $439.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $427.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.58. The stock has a market cap of $3.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $366.50 and a 1-year high of $468.35. 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 announced its 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 net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.83 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.