Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC Has $28.62 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 64.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,020 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,661 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.1% of Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $28,615,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $2,645,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 42,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Harbor Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. KeyCorp upped their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.3 %

MSFT stock opened at $438.11 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $428.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $428.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, 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 transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.