Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 32.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 121,719 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 29,983 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.5% of Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $60,544,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $18,733,827,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after acquiring an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $478.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $504.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $502.34. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Melius Research lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $630.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $632.34.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

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.