Sterling Manor Financial LLC Purchases 220 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 22nd, 2023

Sterling Manor Financial LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,360 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 0.4% of Sterling Manor Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Sterling Manor Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Ocean LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.5% in the second quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 26,122 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,895,000 after purchasing an additional 1,818 shares during the last quarter. Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% during the second quarter. Montz Harcus Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,070 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,451,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Insight Folios Inc increased its stake in Microsoft by 9.3% during the second quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,809 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $957,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Ackerman Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the second quarter. Ackerman Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,193,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Command Bank increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.2% during the second quarter. First Command Bank now owns 20,182 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,873,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Microsoft from $411.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Microsoft from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, Argus upped their target price on Microsoft from $371.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.11.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $326.67 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $325.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $323.16. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $213.43 and a 1 year high of $366.78. The company has a market cap of $2.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.07%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, 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 value of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 115,049 shares of company stock valued at $38,195,619 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company 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.