James J. Burns & Company LLC Increases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

James J. Burns & Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,173 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.9% of James J. Burns & Company LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. James J. Burns & Company LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,808,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 6.8% in the third quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,732 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,491,000 after buying an additional 1,251 shares during the period. Legacy CG LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Legacy CG LLC now owns 15,407 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,630,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Rational Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 6.4% in the third quarter. Rational Advisors LLC now owns 11,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,846,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 22.4% in the third quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 454,055 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $195,380,000 after buying an additional 83,239 shares during the period. Finally, PDS Planning Inc raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 40,010 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,216,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $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 sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $423.35 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $428.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $428.08. 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 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm 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 firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. Research analysts expect 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 repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target 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. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

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.