Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. Has $6.14 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,034 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,777 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.8% of Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,141,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Syverson Strege & Co raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 157.0% during the first quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 203 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $83,000. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 57.5% during the third quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 411 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter worth $97,000. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $369.85 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.64. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $219.35 and a one year high of $376.35. The stock has a market cap of $2.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $336.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $331.96.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.34. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.31% and a return on equity of 38.79%. The business had revenue of $56.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 29.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $370.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $411.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.11.

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.