Avior Wealth Management LLC Trims Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Key Points

• Avior Wealth Management LLC has reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 8.9%, selling 5,032 shares, leaving them with 51,592 shares valued at approximately $19.37 million.
• Analysts have expressed a generally positive outlook for Microsoft, with twenty-nine analysts issuing a "buy" rating and an average target price of $551.21.
• Microsoft recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, with an ex-dividend date set for August 21st, representing a 0.65% dividend yield.

Avior Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,592 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 5,032 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jim Saulnier & Associates LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 36.9% in the 1st quarter. Jim Saulnier & Associates LLC now owns 1,714 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 24,404 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,161,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Provident Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 4.9% in the first quarter. Provident Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. River Street Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 13,129 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,929,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanderbilt University lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanderbilt University now owns 19,476 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,311,000 after buying an additional 2,524 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $545.00 target price (up previously from $515.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $555.86.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $0.67 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $513.24. The company had a trading volume of 25,399,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,947,285. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $518.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock's 50-day moving average is $486.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $433.33.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 25.66%.

Microsoft Company 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.