Saybrook Capital NC Acquires 175 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Saybrook Capital NC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,343 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Saybrook Capital NC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. CGN Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 24,725 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,051,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the period. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC now owns 7,752 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,465,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 47.1% during the second quarter. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 846 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gill Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the second quarter. Gill Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,941 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,102,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $430.53 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $428.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $428.88. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $366.50 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.

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

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in 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 often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 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.