Kovack Advisors Inc. Cuts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Kovack Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,559 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,895 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.7% of Kovack Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Kovack Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted 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 valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 10.1% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant's stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock traded up $4.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $429.03. The company had a trading volume of 26,146,013 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,227,436. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $429.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $426.37. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $512.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were 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 $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % 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 quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.