Arista Wealth Management LLC Sells 1,831 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Arista Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 48.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,916 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,831 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 0.6% of Arista Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Arista Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $806,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% during the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $12.92 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $389.33. 28,721,275 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,169,949. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $414.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $389.44. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $303.40 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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 for 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%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft 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.