Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,089 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.6% of Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $429.03 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $429.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $426.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

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 Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Loop Capital increased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $512.93.

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.