Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Braun Bostich & Associates Inc.

Braun Bostich & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings 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 (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,039 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.1% of Braun Bostich & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Braun Bostich & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Bellevue Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% in the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $437.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $364.13 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $420.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup decreased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total transaction of $1,077,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,203,211.24. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,578 shares of company stock worth $39,679,056 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.