Lynx Investment Advisory Purchases 832 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lynx Investment Advisory raised its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,108 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 832 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.8% of Lynx Investment Advisory’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Lynx Investment Advisory’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $200,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $426.31 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The business has a 50-day moving average of $429.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $426.72. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $384.81 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 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.