Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock: GK Wealth Management LLC Trims Position

Key Points

• GK Wealth Management cut its Microsoft stake by 25.5% in the third quarter, selling 2,226 shares and retaining 6,488 shares valued at about $3.33 million.
• Microsoft beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $4.89 earnings per share and $92.28 billion in revenue; revenue rose 18.8% year over year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend from $0.91 to $0.98 per share. Insiders also sold about $74.8 million of Microsoft shares over the past 90 days.

GK Wealth Management LLC cut its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 25.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,488 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,226 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.8% of GK Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. GK Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $27,338,370,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $18,306,443,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $6,928,664,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,653,812,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,000,706,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.00, for a total value of $2,655,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 54,412 shares in the company, valued at $28,892,772. This trade represents a 8.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 147,809 shares of company stock valued at $74,769,646 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Investors following MSFT have been watching these headlines:

• Positive Sentiment: ETF activity showed net buying of Microsoft shares on Nov. 10, with 53 funds buying and 16 selling, a potential sign of institutional demand. ETFs Are Buying Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is collaborating with DuPont and NobleAI on AI-enabled research and development, adding another potential application for its AI technology. DuPont, Microsoft and NobleAI collaborate in R&D innovation with AI
• Negative Sentiment: An outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, Microsoft 365 and Copilot. Service interruptions can frustrate customers and raise questions about reliability, though Microsoft said it was working to restore access. Outlook, Teams and More Microsoft Programs Disrupted by Outage

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $523.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $518.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $441.64. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $559.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.72 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 41.17% and a return on equity of 31.28%. The business had revenue of $92.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $90.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.13 EPS. The company's revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 19.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Roth Capital started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, November 6th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. UBS Group set a $700.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Microsoft from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.54.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, and digital solutions for consumers, businesses, and public-sector organizations. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Azure cloud computing, LinkedIn, GitHub, Surface devices, and Xbox gaming products and services. Microsoft also provides business software, cybersecurity tools, and artificial intelligence technologies.

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