Beta Wealth Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Beta Wealth Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,657 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 3.6% of Beta Wealth Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Beta Wealth Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Pegasus Partners Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pegasus Partners Ltd. now owns 26,567 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,432,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the period. Rovin Capital UT ADV grew its position in Microsoft by 43.4% during the third quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 5,620 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,418,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 6.6% during the third quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 26,131 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,244,000 after buying an additional 1,623 shares during the last quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 13.8% in the third quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 4,624 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,990,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 18,378 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,908,000 after buying an additional 730 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock 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 firm has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $428.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $427.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, 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 have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.