Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Keynote Financial Services LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Keynote Financial Services LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,751 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 27 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.5% of Keynote Financial Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Keynote Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Seed Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Seed Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,162 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,754,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 16,125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,207,000 after purchasing an additional 2,131 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley boosted its stake in Microsoft by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 12,206 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,455,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% during the second quarter. Midwest Financial Group LLC now owns 9,517 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,254,000 after buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $424.56 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $428.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $427.59. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $371.19 and a one year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

About Microsoft

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.