Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC Purchases 109 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,749 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First National Bank Sioux Falls grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,834,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,309,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,455,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 6,986 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,108,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 2,997 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $446.71 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-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 capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $430.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.55.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Microsoft from $548.00 to $540.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $512.66.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently 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.