Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Lessened by Avid Wealth Partners LLC

Avid Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,890 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 342 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.6% of Avid Wealth Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Avid Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ted Buchan & Co increased its position in Microsoft by 4.0% during the third quarter. Ted Buchan & Co now owns 5,971 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,569,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 6.5% during the third quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 24,426 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,511,000 after buying an additional 1,483 shares during the last quarter. Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth $7,471,000. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 7,352 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,164,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 17 Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 14.5% in the third quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,889 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,825,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $417.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $429.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $426.98. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $384.81 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.