Forte Capital LLC ADV Has $9.58 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Forte Capital LLC ADV cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,261 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 345 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.1% of Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,579,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Hendley & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% during the second quarter. Hendley & Co. Inc. now owns 54,122 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $24,190,000 after buying an additional 1,813 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2,297.6% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 16,783 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,668,000 after buying an additional 16,083 shares during the last quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the second quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 96,422 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,096,000 after buying an additional 922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the second quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 60,768 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $27,160,000 after buying an additional 1,006 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.62.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $424.56 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $428.29 and a 200 day moving average of $427.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $371.19 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.

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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.