Burt Wealth Advisors Cuts Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Burt Wealth Advisors reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,379 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 123 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.2% of Burt Wealth Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Burt Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,896,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 15,053 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,477,000 after acquiring an additional 1,329 shares during the period. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 40.0% during the 3rd quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC now owns 1,757 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $756,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the period. Quantum Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC now owns 44,482 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,140,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 15,501 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,674,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Finally, Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. now owns 21,670 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,326,000 after acquiring an additional 692 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

MSFT stock opened at $418.95 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $380.38 and a twelve month high of $468.35. 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 PE ratio of 34.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of $428.83 and a 200 day moving average of $427.39.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.