Highland Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 423 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Highland Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 46.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,341 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 423 shares during the period. Highland Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $599,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bayesian Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 60.1% in the fourth quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,238,000 after acquiring an additional 18,200 shares during the period. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after acquiring an additional 956 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $550,086,000 after acquiring an additional 5,253 shares during the period. True Link Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 296.7% in the first quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264 shares during the period. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $9,538,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $423.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.63, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $309.45 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $424.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $423.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Macquarie increased their target price on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $494.72.

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.