M3 Advisory Group LLC Invests $1.16 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

M3 Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 3,091 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,162,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.4% of M3 Advisory Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hart & Patterson Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $1,493,000. Skyline Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $18,637,000. BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,684,000. VanderPol Investments L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $666,000. Finally, Walden Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $17,745,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $465.83.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.5 %

MSFT opened at $446.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $418.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $405.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $309.45 and a 52 week high of $450.94.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

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.