Circle Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Circle Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 108,931 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.1% of Circle Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Circle Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $48,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kowal Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 17,848 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,977,000 after buying an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 7,062 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,156,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 48,378 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,623,000 after buying an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 97,973 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,789,000 after buying an additional 982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alaethes Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 20,029 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,952,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $422.54 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $421.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $424.95. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $360.36 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.75%.

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.