Ariston Services Group Acquires New Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ariston Services Group purchased a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 641 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 2,663 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Innova Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $646,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Sicart Associates LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,592 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $599,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $465.83.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.5 %

MSFT opened at $446.34 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $309.45 and a fifty-two week high of $450.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $418.59 and its 200 day moving average is $405.81.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

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.