Aprio Wealth Management LLC Sells 252 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Aprio Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,362 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 252 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.1% of Aprio Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Aprio Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,040,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rebalance LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,834,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Doheny Asset Management CA boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 6,397 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,691,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Flagship Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 913 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,309,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

MSFT opened at $417.00 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $421.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $426.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

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.