Kovack Advisors Inc. Has $25.20 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Kovack Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 58,559 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,895 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.7% of Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,227 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,934,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the period. Metropolis Capital Ltd increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 34.2% during the 2nd quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 234,525 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $104,821,000 after purchasing an additional 59,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,042 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,041,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $512.93.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $429.03 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $429.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.58. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 0.77%. 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.