Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,508 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 533 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.6% of Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Hendley & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hendley & Co. Inc. now owns 54,122 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $24,190,000 after buying an additional 1,813 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2,297.6% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 16,783 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,668,000 after buying an additional 16,083 shares in the last quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 96,422 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,096,000 after buying an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 60,768 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $27,160,000 after buying an additional 1,006 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.62.

Insider Activity 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $424.56 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $371.19 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $428.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $427.61.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 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 is currently 27.39%.

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

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.