MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC Has $3.28 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,610 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 142 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.0% of MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 143,095 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $61,574,000 after purchasing an additional 36,567 shares during the period. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 5,318 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,288,000 after purchasing an additional 943 shares during the period. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV now owns 20,796 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,948,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Waterway Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,587 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,974,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,457 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,360,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $505.43.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5 %

MSFT opened at $447.27 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $364.13 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $424.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $427.61.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft 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.