Amara Financial LLC. Purchases New Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Amara Financial LLC. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 764 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $329,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at about $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $548.00 to $540.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $512.66.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 sale, 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. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $444.06 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $430.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $425.69. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

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.