Ariadne Wealth Management LP Makes New Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ariadne Wealth Management LP bought a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,606 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $3,400,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.8% of Ariadne Wealth Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aldebaran Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 7,240 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,236,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.7% during the second quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 16,114 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561 shares in the last quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 23,870 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,669,000 after buying an additional 2,813 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.9% in the second quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 26,121 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,675,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 17.0% during the second quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,744 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,037,000 after buying an additional 2,284 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $415.00 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $422.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $425.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.