SMART Wealth LLC Sells 907 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

SMART Wealth LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,494 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 907 shares during the period. SMART Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Microsoft by 67.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404,348 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in Microsoft by 46.1% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,032,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222,483 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total transaction of $423,480.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,931,278.28. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock worth $14,333,540. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $408.43 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $429.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $423.04. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88, a PEG 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

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.