Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Boosted by Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P.

Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 21.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,815 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,761 shares during the quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $2,645,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant's stock worth $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant's stock worth $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 389.2% in the 3rd quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 53,770 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,137,000 after buying an additional 42,778 shares during the period. Finally, New Harbor Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% in the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $7.58 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $430.53. 18,090,951 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,649,207. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $366.50 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $428.90 and a 200 day moving average of $428.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.52, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.77%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business'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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft 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 $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three 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 company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $509.90.

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.