Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Pointe Capital Management LLC

Pointe Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,450 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.4% of Pointe Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Pointe Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,066,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position 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 worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 380,840 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $170,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,353 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the second quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 101,344 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,296,000 after purchasing an additional 7,346 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the second quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 48,368 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $21,618,000 after buying an additional 1,126 shares during the period. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 15,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,839,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $439.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $427.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $428.58. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $366.50 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a 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. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

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.