Professional Financial Solutions LLC ADV Invests $670,000 in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Professional Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter, acquiring 1,386 shares valued at about $670,000. Microsoft now represents roughly 0.6% of the firm’s portfolio and its 20th-largest holding.
• Several other institutional investors also added to or initiated positions in Microsoft, and overall institutions own 71.13% of the stock. At the same time, insiders have been selling shares, including CEO Judson Althoff and EVP Takeshi Numoto.
• Microsoft continues to post solid operating results and analyst support: the company beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, and analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target price of $561.20. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.

Professional Financial Solutions LLC ADV acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,386 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $670,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.6% of Professional Financial Solutions LLC ADV's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $4,130,000. Hamilton Wealth LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Hamilton Wealth LLC now owns 58,410 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,248,000 after buying an additional 3,039 shares during the period. BFI Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $516,000. WealthPoint Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,709,000. Finally, Van Diest Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $2,842,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly building a more than $1 billion annual AI and cloud business with ByteDance in China, underscoring strong demand for its Azure and OpenAI-related services. Microsoft Scores Massive China AI Win as TikTok Parent Eyes $1 Billion Spend
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s push to monetize ChatGPT with ads highlights continued AI commercialization, which may support sentiment around Microsoft’s OpenAI stake and AI strategy. OpenAI Brings ChatGPT Ads to Japan
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is said to be moving Copilot to usage-based pricing and exploring cheaper AI models, a sign it is trying to improve margins as AI infrastructure costs rise. Microsoft (MSFT) Moves Copilot To Usage Based Pricing As AI Costs Rise
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports say investors are increasingly worried about Microsoft’s AI valuation, spending, and monetization, which is weighing on the stock. Microsoft Faces AI Expectations Test
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also facing securities class-action lawsuits and investigations over alleged misleading AI-related statements, adding legal uncertainty. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC Urges Microsoft Corporation Investors to Act: Class Action Filed Alleging Investor Harm
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft walked away from a potential $3 billion Oracle cloud deal suggest possible friction in securing additional cloud capacity. Why Microsoft Stock Slumped Today

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings cut Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $561.20.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1%

MSFT opened at $379.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $412.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

About Microsoft

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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