Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC Has $6.55 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,209 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,056 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.8% of Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 151,292 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $64,258,000 after buying an additional 2,723 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 64.5% in the third quarter. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC now owns 68,020 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,615,000 after acquiring an additional 26,661 shares during the last quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 130.2% in the third quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,116 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,365,000 after buying an additional 9,682 shares during the period. Autumn Glory Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 19,760 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,255,624 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $970,595,000 after purchasing an additional 34,440 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $438.11 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $428.65 and a 200 day moving average of $428.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.15, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % 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 three months. Company 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.