Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Reduced by Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC

Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,729 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 132 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.6% of Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 31,648.5% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865,996 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 128.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,160,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,412,656,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776,825 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,768,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,533 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $505.43.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $454.46 on Wednesday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $425.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.04. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $366.50 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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 issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. 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 Company 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.