MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,860 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,382,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Insight Advisors LLC PA increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the second quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA now owns 19,653 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,787,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $3,484,000. Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 85,591 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $38,820,000 after purchasing an additional 5,344 shares during the period. Finally, Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 33,420 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,305 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following 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 trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $427.85 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $369.01 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $428.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $427.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given 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 $511.62.

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.