Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,655 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 5.2% of Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 35,280.7% in the 3rd quarter. GFS Advisors LLC now owns 49,533 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,314,000 after buying an additional 49,393 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,080,604 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $895,284,000 after purchasing an additional 10,555 shares during the period. Allen Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allen Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,284 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $983,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Indie Asset Partners LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Indie Asset Partners LLC now owns 10,012 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,308,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the period. Finally, Prossimo Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 20,435 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,793,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

Insider Activity

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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was 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 worth $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $423.35 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $366.50 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.93, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $428.71 and a 200 day moving average of $428.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.