OneAscent Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,340 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,868,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.7% of OneAscent Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position.
Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,767,000 after acquiring an additional 97,075 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake 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 worth $10,768,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,533 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 20,957,770 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,018,128,000 after purchasing an additional 57,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 18,388,106 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,912,402,000 after purchasing an additional 251,408 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $512.66.
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Microsoft Stock Performance
Shares of MSFT stock traded down $2.65 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $444.06. The company had a trading volume of 15,539,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,490,811. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $385.58 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $431.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $425.82. The stock has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for 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 revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 27.39%.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Company Profile
(
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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