Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC Purchases 102 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,123 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,635,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 31,648.5% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 128.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,160,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,412,656,000 after buying an additional 1,776,825 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $447.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 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. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $364.13 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $424.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $427.63.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors 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 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $505.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is 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.