Beckerman Institutional LLC Acquires New Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Beckerman Institutional LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,777 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $765,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,808 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,088,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the second quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 2,196 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $982,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC now owns 44,032 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,680,000 after buying an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,047,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $418.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $380.38 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $428.83 and its 200 day moving average is $427.39. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.62.

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.