Elite Wealth Management Inc. Sells 22,309 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Elite Wealth Management Inc. cut its Microsoft stake by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 22,309 shares. Microsoft remains its largest holding, accounting for 32.5% of the fund’s portfolio.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.27 versus $4.06 expected and revenue of $82.89 billion, up 18.3% year over year. The company also continued to show high profitability with a 39.34% net margin.
• The stock has drawn continued support from Wall Street analysts, with 39 Buy ratings and an average price target of $560.88. Microsoft also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, payable June 11, for an annualized yield of 0.8%.

Elite Wealth Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 246,734 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 22,309 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 32.5% of Elite Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Elite Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $119,325,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Pachira Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 4,751 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,298,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares in the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC now owns 16,229 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,849,000 after purchasing an additional 2,830 shares in the last quarter. WJ Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. WJ Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 11,074 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,356,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Core Alternative Capital boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 44,812 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $21,672,000 after purchasing an additional 2,580 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $450.24 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $356.28 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $402.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $434.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.80, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia teased “a new era of PC,” with reports pointing to new Surface hardware and a possible AI-focused chip announcement at Computex, which could refresh the Windows/PC upgrade cycle. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft will unveil a new coding model and other in-house AI tools at next week’s Build conference reinforce the company’s AI monetization story and support sentiment around GitHub Copilot and Azure demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings backdrop remains solid, with revenue growth of 18.3% and better-than-expected EPS, helping investors justify the stock’s premium valuation.
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish writeups and analyst commentary say MSFT still has room to run because Azure, M365 cloud, and AI revenue are expanding faster than the broader software market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also drawing attention from investors, fund managers, and even congressional buyers, which supports the stock’s defensive-growth reputation but does not change fundamentals on its own.
• Negative Sentiment: A TechCrunch report says Microsoft is facing backlash for threatening a security researcher over unpatched bugs and code disclosure, adding some reputational noise ahead of Build. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $550.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Microsoft to a "buy" rating and set a $485.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore cut their price target 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. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.88.

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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