Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Vivid Wealth Management LLC

Vivid Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,986 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 316 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.6% of Vivid Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Vivid Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $3,699,000. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the second quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,489 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,900,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 55,964 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 50,742 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $22,679,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $438.11 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $428.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $428.86. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $366.50 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly 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 last year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last quarter. Corporate 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.