Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Cuts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,962 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,073 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.0% of Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its stake in Microsoft by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 41,742 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,962,000 after purchasing an additional 2,833 shares in the last quarter. Lauer Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 174.0% during the third quarter. Lauer Wealth LLC now owns 1,581 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 1,004 shares in the last quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% during the third quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. now owns 24,118 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,378,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the period. Washburn Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. Washburn Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,072 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,474,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanderbilt University lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanderbilt University now owns 18,798 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,089,000 after acquiring an additional 1,565 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $438.11 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 week high of $468.35. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $428.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $428.86.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding 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 generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.90.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.