Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC Has $10.01 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,272 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 123 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.5% of Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $429.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $429.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.53.

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.