Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 221,565 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 80.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,644 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 221,565 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.3% of Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,796,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,179,000. Hendershot Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. now owns 56,336 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,184,000 after buying an additional 947 shares in the last quarter. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 8,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,017,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Leeward Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 30,749 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,563,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blossom Wealth Management increased its position in Microsoft by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 4,412 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,659,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 target price (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $413.54 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.80, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $306.09 and a twelve month high of $430.82. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $413.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $391.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.