Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Fingerlakes Wealth Management Inc.

Fingerlakes Wealth Management Inc. cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,252 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 103 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.1% of Fingerlakes Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Fingerlakes Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Planning Group LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 32.0% during the first quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC now owns 33,911 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,267,000 after buying an additional 8,230 shares in the last quarter. Crane Advisory LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 447.9% during the first quarter. Crane Advisory LLC now owns 3,364 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,406,000 after buying an additional 2,750 shares in the last quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 4.5% during the first quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,868 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,731,000 after buying an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 5.7% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,475 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,035,000 after buying an additional 1,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Management Partners LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.8% during the first quarter. Wealth Management Partners LLC now owns 23,101 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,719,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $502.97.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4 %

MSFT opened at $426.59 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $331.83 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.12, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $420.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.58.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.40%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.