Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 13,791 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC cut its Microsoft stake by 12.9% in the first quarter, selling 13,791 shares and leaving it with 93,286 shares worth about $34.5 million.
• Microsoft’s latest business momentum is being driven by AI expansion, including a new $2.5 billion “Frontier Company” unit aimed at helping customers adopt AI and a five-year AI/cloud deal with Haleon.
• The stock also faces some headwinds from layoff plans and legal uncertainty, as Microsoft reportedly prepares another round of job cuts while a securities fraud class action looms.

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 93,286 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 13,791 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.0% of Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $34,532,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched Microsoft Frontier Company, a new $2.5 billion AI implementation business that will embed about 6,000 engineers, consultants and support specialists inside customer operations to speed enterprise AI adoption. Reuters: Microsoft launches firm to help companies adopt AI with $2.5 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports and commentary said the new AI unit reinforces Microsoft’s leadership in enterprise AI and could drive more Azure and Copilot usage, helping explain the stock’s strength. GeekWire: Microsoft announces $2.5B ‘Frontier Company' to embed AI engineers inside customers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s enterprise AI momentum was also supported by a new five-year deal with Haleon to expand AI, cloud and data technology across the health company’s operations. MarketBeat: Meta’s AI Compute Push Could Turn Its Massive CapEx Bill Into a Competitive Weapon
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly preparing another round of layoffs, potentially affecting thousands of workers in sales, consulting and Xbox, as it keeps pouring money into AI infrastructure. This may help costs over time, but it also highlights ongoing restructuring and margin pressure. Reuters: Microsoft partners with Singapore's Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment is also being weighed by a securities fraud class action and related deadline reminders, which add legal uncertainty to the name. PRNewswire: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Shareholders Who Lost Money Have Opportunity to Lead Securities Fraud Lawsuit

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $390.49 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $406.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $418.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They issued a "market outperform" rating on the stock. China Renaissance lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Evercore reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $560.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

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