Financial Security Advisor Inc. Has $12.95 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Financial Security Advisor Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,087 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,577 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 3.2% of Financial Security Advisor Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Financial Security Advisor Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,946,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,348 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56.9% in the third quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,344,566 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,299,767,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 31,648.5% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,996 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho upped their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $422.37 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $428.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $427.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $369.01 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was 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 owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents 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 worth $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. 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.