W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co Purchases 694 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 110,466 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 694 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.1% of W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $47,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% during the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after buying an additional 18,544 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after buying an additional 31,401 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $444.06 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $431.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $425.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.40 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.66.

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.