Eads & Heald Wealth Management Has $2.86 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Eads & Heald Wealth Management reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,639 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 125 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.4% of Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,857,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $421.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $428.83 and a 200-day moving average of $428.45. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $366.50 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.78, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

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.