Forum Financial Management LP Purchases 919 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Forum Financial Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 49,945 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.4% of Forum Financial Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Forum Financial Management LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Blue Square Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Square Asset Management LLC now owns 8,458 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,639,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Lansing Street Advisors grew its position in Microsoft by 3.8% during the third quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 6,776 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,916,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the third quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 46,259 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,905,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. Private Wealth Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 3,536 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Veritas Asset Management LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 2,230,108 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $959,615,000 after acquiring an additional 470,380 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $423.35 on Friday. 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. The stock 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’s 50 day moving average is $428.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $428.35.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, 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 value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.