Clean Yield Group Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Clean Yield Group lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,120 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.8% of Clean Yield Group’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Clean Yield Group’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marion Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Marion Wealth Management now owns 15,083 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,490,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the period. White Wing Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. White Wing Wealth Management now owns 640 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $275,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,366 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,030,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,136,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,409 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,467,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. 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. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

Microsoft stock opened at $417.00 on Friday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $421.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $426.07. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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 business 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.