BetterWealth LLC Reduces Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BetterWealth LLC reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,079 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 370 shares during the period. BetterWealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $520.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $502.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $441.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,350 shares of company stock worth $21,493,447 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $609.86.

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.