Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,831 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 143 shares during the quarter. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Threadgill Financial LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 28.9% in the 3rd quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $661,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Kure Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the third quarter. Kure Advisory LLC now owns 1,728 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $744,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Marathon Strategic Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 14.2% in the third quarter. Marathon Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 1,357 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 26,503 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,404,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IMZ Advisory Inc raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. IMZ Advisory Inc now owns 5,175 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,153,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

MSFT stock opened at $414.17 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $422.21 and its 200-day moving average is $426.05. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $362.90 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 24.75%.

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.