Lutz Financial Services LLC Buys 31 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lutz Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,119 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Lutz Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Realta Investment Advisors raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the second quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 37,229 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,639,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the second quarter. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. now owns 30,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $13,758,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 81,607 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,474,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,475 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,000,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. 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 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.1 %

MSFT stock opened at $423.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $428.62 and its 200 day moving average is $428.35. 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 one year low of $366.50 and a one year high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are 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.