Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Cut by Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC

Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 53,513 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 727 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 4.2% of Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $23,027,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% during the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,729,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Sterneck Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.7% in the third quarter. Sterneck Capital Management LLC now owns 8,574 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,689,000 after acquiring an additional 755 shares in the last quarter. Farmers Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 56,607 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $24,358,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the period. Meritas Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Meritas Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,854 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,089,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unique Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 12.0% in the third quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 11,865 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,106,000 after buying an additional 1,271 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $415.76 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $422.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.13. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $362.90 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.75%.

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

Microsoft 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.