Keystone Financial Services Has $1.17 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Keystone Financial Services increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,714 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 0.5% of Keystone Financial Services’ portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Keystone Financial Services’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in 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. Financial Partners Group Inc boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Financial Partners Group Inc now owns 40,699 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,191,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its position in Microsoft by 15.8% during the second quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 1,653,394 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $738,984,000 after acquiring an additional 225,961 shares during the last quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the second quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 36,918 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,501,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chapin Davis Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 40,936 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,297,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $424.58 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $384.81 and a 52-week 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 fifty day simple moving average of $429.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.58. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Company 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.