Latko Wealth Management Ltd. Purchases Shares of 1,053 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Latko Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,053 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $453,000. Microsoft accounts for 0.3% of Latko Wealth Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter worth $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after buying an additional 18,544 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,401 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA increased its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $423.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.93, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $428.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $428.38.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous 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 fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

About Microsoft

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.