FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,138 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.9% of FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,078,099 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,160,020,000 after purchasing an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,767,000 after acquiring an additional 97,075 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,768,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,533 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,587,576,000 after purchasing an additional 45,220 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $430.98 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $420.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $426.55. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.56, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $362.90 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total value of $1,077,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,203,211.24. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 212,931 shares of company stock valued at $87,297,343 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.