San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC Has $9.75 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,661 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,136 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.0% of San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $47,612,000 after acquiring an additional 43,327 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,467 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 587,516 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $247,174,000 after acquiring an additional 11,026 shares during the period. Finally, Compass Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 104.4% during the first quarter. Compass Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,764 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $742,000 after purchasing an additional 901 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $427.99 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week 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 50 day simple moving average of $421.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.44.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company 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%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s 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 owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.