Merkkuri Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 270 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Merkkuri Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 13.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,233 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Merkkuri Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % 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 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $508.46.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $436.60 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $366.50 and a 12-month high of $468.35. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $427.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $428.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.