Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Reduced by Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC

Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 36,446 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 233 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 6.8% of Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Boothe Investment Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $624,000. Tevis Investment Management raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.5% during the second quarter. Tevis Investment Management now owns 7,166 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,203,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.3% in the second quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,025 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,352,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 113,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $50,902,000 after acquiring an additional 9,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobsen Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 13,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,099,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup reduced their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $506.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.94.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $432.11 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $420.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.67. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Microsoft announced that its board 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 purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.