Sax Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 47,178 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Sax Wealth Advisors increased its Microsoft stake by 112% in the third quarter, buying 47,178 shares to hold 89,298 shares valued at about $45.8 million.
• Microsoft reported quarterly earnings of $4.89 per share, ahead of the $4.72 consensus, while revenue rose 18.8% year over year to $92.28 billion.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend from $0.91 to $0.98 per share, equivalent to an annualized $3.92 and a 0.7% yield.

Sax Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 112.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 89,298 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 47,178 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.3% of Sax Wealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $45,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Montgomery Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $37,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Fiduciary Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 37.4% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

These are some of the MSFT stories that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reported improving availability and said Outlook email queues were approaching normal levels, easing some immediate concern about the disruption. One analyst reiterated a Buy rating and a $630 price target, citing Azure growth of 48% and expected growth of 49%–50% in fiscal Q2. Microsoft outage recovery update Analyst Buy rating and price target
• Negative Sentiment: A prolonged global outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other services across more than 70 countries, affecting businesses and public agencies. Even as service recovered, the incident raised questions about Microsoft’s reliability and customers’ dependence on its cloud infrastructure. Inside Microsoft’s response to the global outage
• Negative Sentiment: Competition is also weighing on sentiment: Anthropic’s new workplace tools threaten Microsoft 365 and Copilot, while Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure spending raises questions about returns on investment. Competition concerns around Microsoft

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $0.88 on Friday, hitting $523.88. The stock had a trading volume of 26,130,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,173,096. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $519.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $441.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $559.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.05.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.72 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $92.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 41.17% and a return on equity of 31.28%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.91 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 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 19.00%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.00, for a total transaction of $2,655,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 54,412 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,892,772. The trade was a 8.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $544.37, for a total transaction of $3,976,622.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 548,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,364,297.67. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 147,809 shares of company stock worth $74,769,646 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore raised shares of Microsoft from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Microsoft from $608.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. UBS Group set a $700.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Microsoft from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.54.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, and digital solutions for consumers, businesses, and public-sector organizations. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Azure cloud computing, LinkedIn, GitHub, Surface devices, and Xbox gaming products and services. Microsoft also provides business software, cybersecurity tools, and artificial intelligence technologies.

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