Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Has $32.34 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,162 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.4% of Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $32,342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 262,432 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $112,924,000 after purchasing an additional 5,792 shares during the last quarter. Check Capital Management Inc. CA raised its position in Microsoft by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Check Capital Management Inc. CA now owns 5,996 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,580,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.5% during the third quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 157,324 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $67,696,000 after acquiring an additional 3,878 shares during the last quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC now owns 6,421 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,763,000 after purchasing an additional 549 shares during the period. Finally, First Business Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% in the third quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 18,335 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,890,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Friday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $509.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $512.93.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $429.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $429.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $426.14.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.