Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Essex Savings Bank

Essex Savings Bank increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,517 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,570 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.1% of Essex Savings Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Essex Savings Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,271,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 12,435 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,558,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Professional Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% in the second quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,847 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,613,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 76.8% in the 2nd quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC now owns 21,882 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,780,000 after acquiring an additional 9,503 shares during the period. Finally, O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc now owns 13,832 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,182,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased 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, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $418.95 on Monday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $428.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $427.23. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $380.38 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.