Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC Sells 2,605 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 132,406 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,605 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.5% of Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $56,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG grew its position in Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $427.99 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $362.90 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $421.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.44.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Microsoft

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.