Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by AE Wealth Management LLC

AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 19.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 618,084 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 99,869 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.8% of AE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. AE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $276,252,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vicus Capital boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 92,924 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,095,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 178.0% during the 1st quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 24.1% during the 1st quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 11,842 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,982,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,813 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,908,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $420.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $357.63 and a 52-week 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. The business’s fifty day moving average is $420.74 and its 200-day moving average is $424.80.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.