Accretive Wealth Partners LLC Reduces Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Accretive Wealth Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,217 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,623 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.4% of Accretive Wealth Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,687,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $447.24 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $431.42 and its 200 day moving average is $425.08. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a PEG ratio of 2.40 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.