Sterling Manor Financial LLC Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sterling Manor Financial LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,981 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.6% of Sterling Manor Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Sterling Manor Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $852,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $3,699,000. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,489 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,900,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 55,964 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,013,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $438.11 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $366.50 and a 12-month high of $468.35. 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. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $428.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $428.86.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $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 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Microsoft Company 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.