Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,205 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 3.8% of Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $75,000. Bellevue Group AG grew its position in Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 241.4% during the 2nd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $427.99 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $421.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $426.44. The company has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.31, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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 issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

About Microsoft

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.