Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by Equita Financial Network Inc.

Equita Financial Network Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 50.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,158 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 724 shares during the quarter. Equita Financial Network Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during 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 during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,763,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. West Oak Capital LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.8% in the second quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 13,308 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,948,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ACT Advisors LLC. increased its stake in Microsoft by 10.4% during the second quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. now owns 3,284 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,468,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $2.65 on Friday, hitting $444.06. 15,539,488 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,490,811. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $431.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $425.54. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % 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 three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target 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. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $512.66.

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.