Farther Finance Advisors LLC Has $57.63 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 34.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 133,942 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,434 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.2% of Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $57,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted 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 buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Kwmg LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 20,540 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,180,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 19,953 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,918,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.0% in the second quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,238 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,447,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Private Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 102.2% during the second quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors now owns 17,162 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,672,000 after buying an additional 8,675 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $421.50 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $428.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $428.45. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors 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 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

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.