Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. Purchases 192 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,052 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $883,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 10.1% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at about $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.62.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $424.56 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $428.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $427.59. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $371.19 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

About Microsoft

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.