Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Apollon Financial LLC

Apollon Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,386 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,246 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 4.2% of Apollon Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Apollon Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,366,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 24,529 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,555,000 after buying an additional 2,682 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 81.9% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 14,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,207,000 after purchasing an additional 6,496 shares in the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 954,830 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $410,801,000 after purchasing an additional 57,468 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 65,208 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,059,000 after purchasing an additional 2,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth about $12,596,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho lifted 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. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $424.58 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $384.81 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.03, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $429.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.58.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by 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.