Financial Insights Inc. Sells 14,517 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Financial Insights Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 62,362 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 14,517 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 8.7% of Financial Insights Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Financial Insights Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $454.46 on Wednesday. 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 $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $425.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $428.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $505.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.