Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 618 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,516 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 618 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.2% of Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,689,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Next Level Private LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Next Level Private LLC now owns 12,728 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,477,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Asio Capital LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 31,546 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $13,574,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450 shares in the last quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 18,757 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,071,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.2% in the third quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. now owns 2,762 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,188,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 67.2% during the third quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 13,046 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,614,000 after buying an additional 5,243 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $422.99 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $421.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $362.90 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.90, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

About Microsoft

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.