Armor Investment Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Armor Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,884 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 316 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 0.9% of Armor Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Armor Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 124,415 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $53,536,000 after purchasing an additional 31,878 shares during the period. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,604 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,993,000 after buying an additional 874 shares in the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at about $12,882,000. Leslie Global Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 13.8% in the third quarter. Leslie Global Wealth LLC now owns 2,791 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,201,000 after buying an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invictus Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. Invictus Private Wealth LLC now owns 90,577 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $38,975,000 after acquiring an additional 927 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction 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 represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

MSFT opened at $422.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.85, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $369.01 and a one year high of $468.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $428.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $427.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

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.