Advocate Group LLC Acquires 1,518 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 2nd, 2023

Advocate Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,058 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,518 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.6% of Advocate Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the second quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,893,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $667,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the third quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 3,747 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $873,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the second quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC now owns 4,196 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lokken Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Lokken Investment Group LLC now owns 11,976 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,076,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Fundamental Research lowered their target price on Microsoft from $269.73 to $259.47 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Microsoft from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Microsoft from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Microsoft from $247.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $212.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.73.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total value of $269,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 117,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,614,975.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total value of $269,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 117,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,614,975.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $288.30 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $213.43 and a 52 week high of $315.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.03, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $260.79 and a 200-day moving average of $246.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 39.87% and a net margin of 33.05%. The company had revenue of $52.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.48 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 30.22%.

Microsoft Profile

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.