Instrumental Wealth LLC Sells 60 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Instrumental Wealth LLC cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,439 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 60 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.1% of Instrumental Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Instrumental Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,020,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40,278 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,146,000 after acquiring an additional 2,556 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 61,882 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,364 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,155 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 11,076,269 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,165,120,000 after purchasing an additional 211,339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 89,451 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $33,637,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $417.13 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.12, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $311.21 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50 day moving average of $418.54 and a 200-day moving average of $425.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $506.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $493.94.

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.