Simplicity Wealth LLC Sells 217,991 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Simplicity Wealth LLC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 85.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,230 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 217,991 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.5% of Simplicity Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Simplicity Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after acquiring an additional 43,327 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467 shares in the last quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the first quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,722,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 42.0% during the first quarter. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV now owns 4,852 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,041,000 after buying an additional 1,434 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $422.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.90, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $421.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.