Safir Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 680 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000. Microsoft comprises 0.2% of Safir Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.
A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after purchasing an additional 6,129,708 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,824,173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951,554 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 200,523,373 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,810,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,537,712 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $50,302,677,000 after purchasing an additional 556,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 150,053,637 shares in the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $385.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, September 22nd. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, September 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.34.
Microsoft Stock Up 1.8 %
MSFT opened at $318.96 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $325.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $319.01. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $213.43 and a twelve month high of $366.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.91.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.14. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The firm had revenue of $56.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.23 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 15th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 28.07%.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $198,301,924.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at $262,963,391.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total value of $16,860,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at $198,301,924.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 115,049 shares of company stock worth $38,195,619 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
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.
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