Ellsworth Advisors LLC Purchases 9,587 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1,516.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,219 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 9,587 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,099,000 after buying an additional 1,467 shares in the last quarter. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 309.8% during the 1st quarter. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 20,590 shares of the software giant's stock worth $8,663,000 after buying an additional 15,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 406,172 shares of the software giant's stock worth $170,885,000 after buying an additional 2,358 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $504.36.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $2.86 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $446.43. 8,072,304 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,513,129. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $364.13 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $421.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $427.00. 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 capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total transaction of $7,157,129.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 150,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,843,807.85. This represents a 10.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total transaction of $874,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 51,852 shares in the company, valued at $22,675,916.64. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,578 shares of company stock valued at $24,450,096 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.