AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,525 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 831 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 4.7% of AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Harbor Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 296.7% during the 1st quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,274,000 after buying an additional 2,264 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 81,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,427,000 after buying an additional 12,994 shares in the last quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 12,521 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,268,000 after buying an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leeward Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 35,610 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,982,000 after buying an additional 4,861 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $426.59 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $420.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $424.58. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $331.83 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.12, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to repurchase 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 shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group dropped 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $502.97.

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.