Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Stiles Financial Services Inc

Stiles Financial Services Inc raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,501 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.4% of Stiles Financial Services Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% during the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.95 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $380.38 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $428.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $427.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson cut shares of 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. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

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.