Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Reduced by Buck Wealth Strategies LLC

Buck Wealth Strategies LLC decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,088 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,074 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.6% of Buck Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Private Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 17.7% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 372,241 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $160,175,000 after buying an additional 55,866 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.3% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 25,008 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,761,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co lifted its stake in Microsoft by 17.4% in the third quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 68,514 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,481,000 after acquiring an additional 10,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 332,251 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $142,968,000 after acquiring an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $509.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.53.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $429.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.40, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $429.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.57. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft Company 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.