Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Haverford Financial Services Inc.

Haverford Financial Services Inc. decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,942 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 74 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 7.4% of Haverford Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Haverford Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $24,556,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 5,638 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,520,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the period. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the second quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71,913 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,142,000 after purchasing an additional 4,148 shares in the last quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the second quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,987 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,017,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Capco Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Capco Asset Management LLC now owns 105,066 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,959,000 after acquiring an additional 1,358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AllGen Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. AllGen Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 13,942 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,231,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $411.46 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $353.35 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $420.55 and a 200-day moving average of $424.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.95, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.96 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.75%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.