New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,487 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 26 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.3% of New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $640,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after buying an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 56.9% during the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,344,566 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,299,767,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938,304 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 31,648.5% in the 2nd 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. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $423.35 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $366.50 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $428.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $428.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s 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. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup decreased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.90.

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.