Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Sells 1,385 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 68,273 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,385 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.3% of Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $29,378,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $414.17 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $422.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.05. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $362.90 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.75%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft 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.