Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Raises Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 39,348 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 801 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.3% of Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tevis Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tevis Investment Management now owns 7,759 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,339,000 after acquiring an additional 593 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 733 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,168,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 3,828 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,647,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 16,197 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,970,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

MSFT stock opened at $424.83 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $366.50 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $428.90 and a 200-day moving average of $428.85. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results 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 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback 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 purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

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.