Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Boosted by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 17.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 372,241 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,866 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.4% of Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $160,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 25,008 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,761,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 68,514 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,481,000 after purchasing an additional 10,155 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 332,251 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $142,968,000 after purchasing an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 26.6% during the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 23,117 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,947,000 after purchasing an additional 4,853 shares during the period. Finally, Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,770,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.53.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $429.03 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $429.19 and a 200-day moving average of $426.57. The firm has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors 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 yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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.