Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Wallace Advisory Group LLC

Wallace Advisory Group LLC cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,441 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.4% of Wallace Advisory Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Wallace Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Bellevue Group AG increased its position in Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $417.79 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $422.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.21.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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.