Motiv8 Investments LLC Buys 152 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Motiv8 Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,109 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 152 shares during the quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,706 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,550,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 11.0% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. now owns 24,243 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,432,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404 shares in the last quarter. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 31.7% in the third quarter. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. now owns 6,701 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,883,000 after acquiring an additional 1,611 shares in the last quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.2% during the third quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC now owns 7,422 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,193,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.7% in the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 114,938 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $49,458,000 after purchasing an additional 4,150 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $439.33 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $366.50 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $427.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $428.58.

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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program 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 programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

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.