Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Shepherd Financial Partners LLC’s 9th Largest Position

Shepherd Financial Partners LLC raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,274 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.9% of Shepherd Financial Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % 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, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8 %

MSFT opened at $421.50 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $428.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $428.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS 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 issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.