Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by American Financial Advisors LLC

American Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,835 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the quarter. American Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 58,018 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $21,817,000 after buying an additional 2,674 shares in the last quarter. Account Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,946,000. Alexander Randolph Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $3,182,000. Dohj LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Dohj LLC now owns 15,193 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,713,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $886,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $431.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.34, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $309.45 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $419.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $424.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. New Street Research assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $493.94.

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.