Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Purchases 356 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,325 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.6% of Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 31,648.5% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,366,000 after buying an additional 1,865,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 128.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,160,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,412,656,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776,825 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

MSFT stock opened at $437.03 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $366.50 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $426.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $428.26.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company 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.