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

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 80.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,644 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 221,565 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 3.3% of Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 89.0% during the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $87,000. Cordant Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 647.8% during the 4th quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Family CFO Inc increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 13.6% in the third quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $146,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.7 %

MSFT opened at $413.54 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $306.09 and a twelve month high of $430.82. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.80, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $413.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $391.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company 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.