Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC Buys 64 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 561 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 11.9% in the third quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 656 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. now owns 12,431 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,349,000 after purchasing an additional 3,533 shares during the period. Mcrae Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mcrae Capital Management Inc. now owns 75,039 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,289,000 after acquiring an additional 7,296 shares during the last quarter. Amarillo National Bank grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Amarillo National Bank now owns 16,294 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,011,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldstein Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 10,304 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,434,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9 %

MSFT opened at $439.33 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $427.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $428.58. The firm has a market cap of $3.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. 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 announced its 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.