Fiducient Advisors LLC Has $3.61 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Fiducient Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,082 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,035 shares during the period. Fiducient Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,613,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Legacy Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1,181.1% in the first quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC now owns 8,596 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,616,000 after purchasing an additional 7,925 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 42,064 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,697,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 209,717 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,232,000 after buying an additional 11,981 shares in the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,609,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,216,000 after acquiring an additional 2,888 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Bank of America upped their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.68.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.1 %

Microsoft stock opened at $427.51 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $324.39 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $420.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $424.56.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

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

Microsoft 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.