TrueWealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

TrueWealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,242 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 0.9% of TrueWealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. TrueWealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $147,714,197,000 after purchasing an additional 6,129,708 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,824,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,554 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 200,523,373 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,810,889,000 after acquiring an additional 1,537,712 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $50,302,677,000 after purchasing an additional 556,020 shares during the period. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 112,158.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after purchasing an additional 150,053,637 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Fundamental Research set a $298.10 target price on Microsoft and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 2nd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $390.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $384.45.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $370.27 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $219.35 and a 12 month high of $371.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $333.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $330.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.64.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $56.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.52 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.79% and a net margin of 35.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.35 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.04%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.