Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Inspire Advisors LLC

Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,758 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Intergy Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Intergy Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,496 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 11.0% during the third quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 59,389 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,555,000 after purchasing an additional 5,896 shares during the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% in the third quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 441,259 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $189,874,000 after purchasing an additional 5,498 shares in the last quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 12.4% in the third quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,122 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,634,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 5.2% during the third quarter. Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC now owns 13,784 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,931,000 after buying an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % 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. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total value of $874,640.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 51,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,675,916.64. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,700 shares of company stock worth $16,265,367 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $504.36.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $446.02 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $421.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $427.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.80, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $364.13 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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.