Kelly Financial Services LLC Has $1.89 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Kelly Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,389 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 0.7% of Kelly Financial Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Kelly Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,467 shares in the last quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 12.4% in the first quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,098 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,931,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adapt Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $290,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction 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. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $418.79 on Tuesday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $421.69 and a 200-day moving average of $426.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.55, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management 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.