Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC’s 10th Largest Position

Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,058 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.0% of Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.9% in the third quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,011 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,726,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Wealth Forward LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. Wealth Forward LLC now owns 2,262 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $973,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 45,796 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,706,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the period. Finally, O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc now owns 14,236 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,126,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lowered their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.90.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

Microsoft stock opened at $424.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $428.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $428.85. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $366.50 and a one year high of $468.35. 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 (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 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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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

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.