OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 15,775 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $6,788,000. Microsoft accounts for 4.9% of OneAscent Financial Services LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position.
Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. First National Bank Sioux Falls boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,834,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant's stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,309,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,255 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,455,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 6,986 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,108,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $548.00 to $540.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $512.66.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
Microsoft Stock Down 0.6 %
Shares of MSFT stock traded down $2.65 during trading on Friday, hitting $444.06. 15,539,488 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,490,811. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. 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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $431.05 and its 200 day simple moving average 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 earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business'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. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given 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 0.75%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.
Insider Activity at Microsoft
In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
About Microsoft
(
Free Report)
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.
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