Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 2,260 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,726 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,260 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.1% of Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after purchasing an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,767,000 after purchasing an additional 97,075 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Microsoft by 6.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,768,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,533 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,587,576,000 after purchasing an additional 45,220 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective 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. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT traded up $4.13 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $417.00. The company had a trading volume of 24,814,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,244,906. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $421.94 and a 200-day moving average of $426.19. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35. 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 released 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968. Corporate 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.