Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Increased by Sax Wealth Advisors LLC

Sax Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,765 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,452 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.0% of Sax Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,467 shares during the last quarter. Motco boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% in the first quarter. Motco now owns 60,940 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,639,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 21.0% during the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 4,431 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,864,000 after buying an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $504.36.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total value of $874,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 51,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,675,916.64. This trade represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,700 shares of company stock worth $16,265,367. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $446.02 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $427.11. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $364.13 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.90. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.