Sunpointe LLC Acquires 807 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sunpointe LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,028 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 807 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 5.3% of Sunpointe LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Sunpointe LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,467,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first 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 during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after acquiring an additional 43,327 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,152,072 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,746,860,000 after acquiring an additional 499,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the first quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 9,414 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,961,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $442.62 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $426.89. The stock has a market cap of $3.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.52, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $364.13 and a 1-year high of $468.35. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 98,578 shares of company stock worth $40,553,696 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $504.36.

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.