Proficio Capital Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 15.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,462 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,051 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.1% of Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,853,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position 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 worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 12,435 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,558,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 48,098 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $21,498,000 after buying an additional 942 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 18.1% in the second quarter. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,525 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613 shares during the period. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 13.2% during the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 3,002 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,342,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.
Microsoft Trading Down 0.4 %
Shares of MSFT stock opened at $417.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $429.00 and a 200-day moving average of $426.98. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $384.81 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.
Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a stock 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.
Insider Activity at Microsoft
In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
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.
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