ODonnell Financial Services LLC Increases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

ODonnell Financial Services LLC grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,793 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 253 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 0.5% of ODonnell Financial Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. ODonnell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% in the third quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 21,230 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,135,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,756 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,616,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 3,395 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,461,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Westhampton Capital LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Westhampton Capital LLC now owns 8,684 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,737,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet North America Advisors SA increased its position in Microsoft by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA now owns 94,699 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $40,625,000 after buying an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho upped their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $505.43.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $451.59 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $425.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $427.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $366.50 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized 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 repurchase 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.