Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Aurora Private Wealth Inc.

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,052 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 569 shares during the quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th 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 valued at $25,273,704,000 after buying an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $517.10 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company’s 50-day moving average is $503.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $441.90.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 30,350 shares of company stock valued at $14,162,567. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $612.54.

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.