Opal Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Opal Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,214 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 188 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.2% of Opal Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,965,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Microsoft by 169.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth $75,000. Bellevue Group AG boosted its position in Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $437.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $364.13 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $420.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total value of $1,077,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,203,211.24. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 96,578 shares of company stock valued at $39,679,056. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

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.