Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Element Wealth LLC

Element Wealth LLC cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,245 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 404 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.7% of Element Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Element Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Merkkuri Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Merkkuri Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,233 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $961,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.5% in the third quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 9,405 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB increased its position in Microsoft by 0.9% during the third quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 862,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $370,960,000 after purchasing an additional 7,801 shares during the last quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 22.4% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Finally, Chico Wealth RIA boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Chico Wealth RIA now owns 2,328 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $508.46.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $436.60 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.02, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $427.02 and a 200-day moving average of $428.42. 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 $366.50 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.