MJP Associates Inc. ADV Sells 98 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 24th, 2023

MJP Associates Inc. ADV reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 0.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,465 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 98 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.2% of MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,564,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after buying an additional 150,053,637 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $20,700,525,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 35,465.9% during the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $66,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,553,188 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 29,789.2% during the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,570,893 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,477,000 after acquiring an additional 16,515,452 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 119,417,954 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,638,815,000 after acquiring an additional 14,652,150 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $317.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $213.43 and a one year high of $366.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.72, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average of $330.61 and a 200 day moving average of $315.53.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 34.15% and a return on equity of 38.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. UBS Group upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $345.00 to $400.00 in a report on Friday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $335.00 to $415.00 in a report on Thursday, July 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on Microsoft from $336.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $340.00 to $380.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirty-four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.03.

Read Our Latest Analysis on MSFT

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 115,049 shares of company stock valued at $38,195,619. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.