Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Nikulski Financial Inc.

Nikulski Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,546 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.6% of Nikulski Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Nikulski Financial Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,645,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 389.2% in the 3rd quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 53,770 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,137,000 after buying an additional 42,778 shares during the period. Finally, New Harbor Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction 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 approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $424.83 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $366.50 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $428.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $428.85.

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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

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.