Triton Wealth Management PLLC Acquires 561 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Triton Wealth Management PLLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,765 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 561 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.6% of Triton Wealth Management PLLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Triton Wealth Management PLLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,855,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG grew its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $417.79 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $422.62 and a 200-day moving average of $426.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.47, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $362.90 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.