Wealthspire Advisors LLC Has $71.90 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 160,861 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 15,290 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.9% of Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $71,897,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,506,456 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,014,161,000 after acquiring an additional 178,718 shares during the last quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 20,443 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,137,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450 shares in the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 29.1% in the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 133,914 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,852,000 after purchasing an additional 30,198 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 4.1% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 178,114 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $79,608,000 after buying an additional 7,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Neil Global Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 292.9% during the second quarter. O Neil Global Advisors Inc. now owns 5,500 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,458,000 after buying an additional 4,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

MSFT opened at $432.53 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.22 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $421.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $424.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $334.69 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Argus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Bank of America upped their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price 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. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $502.97.

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.