True Link Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 18th, 2023

True Link Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,280 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. True Link Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Gleason Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 111.7% during the 1st quarter. Gleason Group Inc. now owns 199 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Syverson Strege & Co grew its holdings in Microsoft by 157.0% during the 1st quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 203 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 39.0% during the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth about $97,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $332.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $325.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $322.52. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $213.43 and a 1 year high of $366.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 34.15% and a return on equity of 38.70%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.23 earnings per share. Analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 yield of 0.90%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 30.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $345.00 to $400.00 in a report on Friday, July 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $390.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, September 22nd. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.85.

Read Our Latest Report on Microsoft

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the company’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 transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the company’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 owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 115,049 shares of company stock worth $38,195,619. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft 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.