Bernardo Wealth Planning LLC Has $1.44 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bernardo Wealth Planning LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 26.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,463 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 731 shares during the period. Bernardo Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 9,159 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,941,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 29,054 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,502,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224 shares during the last quarter. Cedrus LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cedrus LLC now owns 6,534 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 16,491 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 37,180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $449.56 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $364.13 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $422.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $427.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target 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. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $504.36.

Microsoft 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.