Front Row Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Front Row Advisors LLC lessened its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,062 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 304 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 4.8% of Front Row Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Front Row Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,883,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised 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 valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in Microsoft by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 189,809 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $79,856,000 after buying an additional 27,415 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 829 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $349,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Accel Wealth Management lifted its position in Microsoft by 12.1% during the first quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 7,047 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,965,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RBA Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.0% during the first quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,602 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,668,000 after acquiring an additional 983 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was 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 directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $426.89 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $421.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $425.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued 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, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.