VitalStone Financial LLC Buys 980 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

VitalStone Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 28.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,435 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 980 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.3% of VitalStone Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. VitalStone Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,908,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Rebalance LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,542,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. First National Bank Sioux Falls boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,834,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 6,397 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,691,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Flagship Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 913 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,309,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp increased their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. 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 an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $423.46 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $362.90 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.94, a PEG ratio of 2.25 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. The company’s 50 day moving average is $420.84 and its 200 day moving average is $426.55.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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.