Yardley Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Yardley Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 880 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $379,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. First National Bank Sioux Falls lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,834,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,309,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,255 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,455,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the second quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 6,986 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,108,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of MSFT traded down $2.65 on Friday, reaching $444.06. The stock had a trading volume of 15,539,488 shares, 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. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $431.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $425.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were 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 approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $509.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $512.66.

About Microsoft

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.