AlphaQ Advisors LLC Sells 2,593 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

AlphaQ Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 51.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,411 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,593 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 3.1% of AlphaQ Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. AlphaQ Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,078,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the second quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 24,493 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,947,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the period. Northeast Investment Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the second quarter. Northeast Investment Management now owns 260,117 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $116,259,000 after buying an additional 2,849 shares during the period. Zimmermann Investment Management & Planning LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the second quarter. Zimmermann Investment Management & Planning LLC now owns 8,681 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Riversedge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.8% during the second quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 6,968 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,114,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the period. Finally, Presidio Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.5% during the second quarter. Presidio Capital Management LLC now owns 2,796 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, New Street Research initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.94.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $416.06 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $418.32 and a 200 day moving average of $425.01. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $314.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.02, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.74%.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.