Aristides Capital LLC Has $8.42 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Aristides Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,970 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 2,160 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.7% of Aristides Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Aristides Capital LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,106,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,335,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,385,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.3%

MSFT traded up $6.25 during trading on Thursday, reaching $478.87. The company had a trading volume of 18,905,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,507,291. The business's fifty day moving average price is $423.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $417.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $480.37. The company has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.56, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $513.89.

About Microsoft

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.