Sweet Financial Partners LLC Has $6.69 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sweet Financial Partners LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,536 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 202 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.4% of Sweet Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Sweet Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TruWealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 87,206 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $37,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1,516.9% in the third quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 10,219 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,397,000 after buying an additional 9,587 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 24.8% in the third quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 4,348 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,871,000 after buying an additional 863 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 213,326 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $91,794,000 after buying an additional 4,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cardinal Capital Management increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% during the third quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 52,338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $22,521,000 after acquiring an additional 681 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total transaction of $7,157,129.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 150,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,843,807.85. This represents a 10.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,578 shares of company stock valued at $24,450,096 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $443.57 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $364.13 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $421.47 and its 200-day moving average is $427.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 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 repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $504.36.

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.