Pathway Financial Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Pathway Financial Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,389 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 137 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 0.7% of Pathway Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake 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 worth $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Research LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the first quarter. Main Street Research LLC now owns 119,176 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $50,141,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the first quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,536 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,999,000 after buying an additional 1,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ESG Planning DBA Harper Investing bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth about $409,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three equities 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

MSFT stock opened at $417.00 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 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 $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $421.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $426.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft 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.