Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by MBM Wealth Consultants LLC

MBM Wealth Consultants LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,964 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 247 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.7% of MBM Wealth Consultants LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,136,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% in the first 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 during the period. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.8% in the first quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,958 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,348,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the first quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 11,025 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,638,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Connecticut Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,752 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,090,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % 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 Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:MSFT 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. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $421.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

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.