San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 16.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,715 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,716 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.0% of San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $62,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $120,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America increased their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Mizuho increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $551.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $2.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $513.71. 19,103,456 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,594,816. The stock has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $518.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $483.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $431.52.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

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.