Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Beta Wealth Group Inc.

Beta Wealth Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 46.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,537 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,027 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.9% of Beta Wealth Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Beta Wealth Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. PMV Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Seek First Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5%

Microsoft stock opened at $483.16 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $507.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $501.25.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast 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, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $500.00 target price (down from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $632.34.

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.