Founders Financial Alliance LLC Purchases 674 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Founders Financial Alliance LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 30,723 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 674 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.1% of Founders Financial Alliance LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Founders Financial Alliance LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,731,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ariadne Wealth Management LP acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $3,400,000. Aldebaran Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.6% during the second quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 7,240 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,236,000 after buying an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 16,114 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,561 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co raised its stake in Microsoft by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 23,870 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,669,000 after acquiring an additional 2,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 26,121 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,675,000 after acquiring an additional 984 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $415.00 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $422.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $425.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.