Aristotle Capital Management LLC Sells 351,292 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 14th, 2023

Aristotle Capital Management LLC decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,078,768 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 351,292 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.6% of Aristotle Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Aristotle Capital Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Microsoft worth $1,697,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 71.4% during the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total transaction of $418,462.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,588.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.87, for a total transaction of $1,584,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 89,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,305,363.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total transaction of $418,462.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,588.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 51,331 shares of company stock worth $15,867,278. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $334.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $308.65 and a 200-day moving average of $272.49. The company has a market cap of $2.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $213.43 and a one year high of $338.56.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.01 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.22 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Moffett Nathanson upped their target price on Microsoft from $263.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Microsoft from $348.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 31st. Citigroup upped their target price on Microsoft from $332.00 to $340.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Fundamental Research cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.74.

Microsoft Company Profile

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Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.