Arista Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Arista Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 213.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,997 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,081 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 0.7% of Arista Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Arista Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG increased its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $200,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $425.43 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $360.36 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $420.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $424.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.