WESPAC Advisors LLC Sells 54 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

WESPAC Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,165 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 54 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.0% of WESPAC Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. WESPAC Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,362,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Truepoint Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47.1% in the third quarter. Truepoint Inc. now owns 7,538 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,244,000 after buying an additional 2,413 shares during the period. Jim Saulnier & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $538,000. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,586,000. CMG Global Holdings LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. CMG Global Holdings LLC now owns 7,161 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,081,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 210,505 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $90,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,871 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.72.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $414.99 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $432.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $424.95. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value 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 approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.