Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,202 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,416 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.7% of U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $46,990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,767,000 after purchasing an additional 97,075 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,768,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,533 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,587,576,000 after buying an additional 45,220 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 11,462,919 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,822,679,000 after acquiring an additional 46,410 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $508.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, 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 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

Microsoft stock traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $437.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,883,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,589,182. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $426.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $428.26. The company has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $366.50 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.