Scott Capital Advisors LLC Sells 26 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Scott Capital Advisors LLC decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,541 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 26 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.3% of Scott Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Scott Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after buying an additional 31,401 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $192,515,000 after buying an additional 8,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $69,840,000 after buying an additional 5,176 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $422.99 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $421.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $426.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.