Peninsula Wealth LLC Trims Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 8th, 2023

Peninsula Wealth LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 9.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,047 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 913 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 0.8% of Peninsula Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Peninsula Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,017,948,000 after buying an additional 150,053,637 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $20,700,525,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 35,465.9% in the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $66,852,000 after buying an additional 20,553,188 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 119,417,954 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,638,815,000 after buying an additional 14,652,150 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 98.1% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 15,218,570 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,649,717,000 after purchasing an additional 7,534,774 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.9 %

Microsoft stock opened at $329.91 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $213.43 and a 1 year high of $366.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $332.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $309.64.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.14. Microsoft had a net margin of 34.15% and a return on equity of 38.70%. The firm had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 28.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 115,049 shares of company stock worth $38,195,619. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Microsoft from $337.00 to $400.00 in a report on Friday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Microsoft from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Microsoft from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Fundamental Research set a $298.10 target price on Microsoft and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $373.68.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft

Microsoft Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.