Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC’s 8th Largest Position

Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,332 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 356 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 3.8% of Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,737,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $3,699,000. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the second quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,489 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,900,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.4% in the second quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 55,964 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the second quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 50,742 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $22,679,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.90.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3 %

MSFT stock opened at $438.11 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $428.65 and a 200-day moving average of $428.86. 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 company has a market cap of $3.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.15, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $366.50 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid 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 announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.