Janney Capital Management LLC Purchases 261 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Janney Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 89,124 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.6% of Janney Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Janney Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $38,350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 12.5% during the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 15,830 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,075,000 after acquiring an additional 1,759 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the second quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 23,697 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,080,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 12,802 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,722,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Williams & Novak LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Williams & Novak LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,253,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $418.58 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $428.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.45. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.54, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, 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 value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.