Wealthquest Corp Sells 224 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wealthquest Corp lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,709 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 224 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 0.4% of Wealthquest Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Wealthquest Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,184 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,821,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 7,663 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,298,000 after buying an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 42.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 67,404 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,004,000 after buying an additional 20,061 shares during the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 69.0% in the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 2,832 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,219,000 after buying an additional 1,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 124,788 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $53,696,000 after buying an additional 19,302 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $410.54 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $430.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $423.13. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total transaction of $423,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 56,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,931,278.28. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,000 shares of company stock worth $14,333,540 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.