Aspire Wealth Management Corp Raises Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Aspire Wealth Management Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,095 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.8% of Aspire Wealth Management Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Aspire Wealth Management Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sicart Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,256 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $712,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Sonen Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sonen Capital LLC now owns 10,132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perritt Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. now owns 937 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $404.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The company has a fifty day moving average of $415.29 and a 200 day moving average of $384.29. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $275.37 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $432.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.