Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 257,996 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 11,716 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.9% of Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $111,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,612,000 after buying an additional 43,327 shares in the last quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,958 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,348,000 after buying an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 11,025 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,638,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connecticut Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,752 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,090,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $417.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $421.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $426.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.75%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp increased their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating 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 research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.