Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV Has $4.06 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,441 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 526 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.4% of Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its position in Microsoft by 56.9% during the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,344,566 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,299,767,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 31,648.5% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,996 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $424.56 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $428.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $427.59. 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. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a PEG 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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated 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 reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % 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, 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Mizuho upped their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

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.