Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Koshinski Asset Management Inc.

Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 48,742 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 104 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.8% of Koshinski Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Koshinski Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,467 shares during the period. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 54.6% in the first quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $735,000 after acquiring an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Custos Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.2% in the first quarter. Custos Family Office LLC now owns 990 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $423.46 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $420.84 and its 200-day moving average is $426.53.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its 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%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688. 0.03% of the stock is 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.