Solidarity Wealth LLC Increases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Solidarity Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 25.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 59,584 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,138 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 6.9% of Solidarity Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Solidarity Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 65,630 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,241,000 after acquiring an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 93.9% during the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,506 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,824,000 after purchasing an additional 9,928 shares in the last quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.7% during the third quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 8,921 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,839,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 31.3% during the third quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 33,031 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,025,000 after purchasing an additional 7,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 505,091 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $217,341,000 after buying an additional 38,412 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho boosted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.90.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $430.53 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $428.90 and a 200-day moving average of $428.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share 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 net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 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 0.77%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.