Sage Financial Group Inc. Trims Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sage Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 487 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 40 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Kwmg LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the second quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 20,540 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,180,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the period. Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 19,953 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,918,000 after buying an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,238 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,447,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Private Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Microsoft by 102.2% during the 2nd quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors now owns 17,162 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,672,000 after acquiring an additional 8,675 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen cut their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. 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.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $421.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $366.50 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $428.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $428.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 issued 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 0.79%. Microsoft’s 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.