Ritholtz Wealth Management Sells 1,670 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ritholtz Wealth Management trimmed its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 146,660 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,670 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.9% of Ritholtz Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $63,108,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Code Waechter LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth approximately $2,168,000. OxenFree Capital LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. OxenFree Capital LLC now owns 4,513 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,942,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. McNamara Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 31.3% during the third quarter. McNamara Financial Services Inc. now owns 734 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 7.8% during the third quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC now owns 30,757 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,596,000 after acquiring an additional 2,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 27,916 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,012,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $423.46 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $420.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.46. The company has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. 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.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

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.