20,632 Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Purchased by SGL Investment Advisors Inc.

SGL Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 20,632 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $8,808,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.5% of SGL Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding.

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

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $412.22 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $431.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $423.41.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

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.