Aveo Capital Partners LLC Sells 13,963 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Aveo Capital Partners LLC cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 44.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,788 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 13,963 shares during the quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. now owns 10,460 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,401,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 14.7% during the first quarter. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,290 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.1% in the first quarter. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,168,000 after buying an additional 2,535 shares in the last quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $6,986,000. Finally, Advance Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the first quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,614 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,045,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $416.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $324.39 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company’s fifty day moving average is $419.42 and its 200 day moving average is $424.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.68.

Microsoft 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.