Financial Strategies Group Inc. Buys 107 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Financial Strategies Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,962 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.2% of Financial Strategies Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Financial Strategies Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,433,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $200,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. 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 three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

MSFT opened at $418.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $428.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $427.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $380.38 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Microsoft 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.