Beta Wealth Group Inc. Has $5.24 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Beta Wealth Group Inc. cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 46.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,537 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,027 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.9% of Beta Wealth Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Beta Wealth Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 29.9% in the second quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth $69,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $682.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $632.34.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5%

MSFT opened at $483.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $507.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $501.25. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

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.