Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by SS&H Financial Advisors Inc.

SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,022 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,370 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 7.2% of SS&H Financial Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $882,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,401 shares during the period. New Harbor Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% in the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $192,515,000 after purchasing an additional 8,290 shares in the last quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $69,840,000 after acquiring an additional 5,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 25.7% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 250,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $112,031,000 after purchasing an additional 51,273 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $415.00 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $422.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $425.53. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one 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. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft 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.