Aprio Wealth Management LLC Purchases 2,445 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Aprio Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,807 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,445 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.2% of Aprio Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Aprio Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Paragon Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC now owns 13,915 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,612,365 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $679,612,000 after buying an additional 98,176 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 87,558 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,906,000 after buying an additional 1,593 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 49,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,931,000 after buying an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Finally, Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. now owns 12,505 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,271,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $409.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $428.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $422.85. 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.

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, 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 last year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % 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 valued at $14,333,540 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.