Jessup Wealth Management Inc Sells 378 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Jessup Wealth Management Inc reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,684 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 378 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.3% of Jessup Wealth Management Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Jessup Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,612,000 after acquiring an additional 43,327 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 205.9% during the first quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 28,506 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,993,000 after acquiring an additional 19,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WealthTrust Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 34.6% during the first quarter. WealthTrust Asset Management LLC now owns 10,069 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,236,000 after acquiring an additional 2,588 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $422.99 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $362.90 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $421.39 and a 200 day moving average of $426.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.90, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’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. This represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. 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, September 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.