Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC

Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 13,620 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.6% of Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. now owns 16,583 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,135,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. RFP Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.7% in the 3rd quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 23,934 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,292,000 after acquiring an additional 8,055 shares during the period. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee now owns 15,191 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,537,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Kessler Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kessler Investment Group LLC now owns 11,545 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,968,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. Finally, Fortis Group Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 12,264 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,277,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $447.27 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $364.13 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $424.16 and a 200-day moving average of $427.61.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $505.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.