Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Reston Wealth Management LLC

Reston Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,011 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.6% of Reston Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Reston Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.2% during the second quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group now owns 11,090 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,957,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Dougherty Wealth Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the second quarter. Dougherty Wealth Advisers LLC now owns 3,290 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.7% in the second quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,621 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,792,000 after acquiring an additional 1,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VanderPol Investments L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the second quarter. VanderPol Investments L.L.C. now owns 1,628 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $728,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

MSFT stock opened at $424.83 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $366.50 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s 50 day moving average is $428.90 and its 200-day moving average is $428.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective 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. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock 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.