Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC Increases Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 55,132 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,222,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $351,001,000 after purchasing an additional 196,338 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total value of $1,550,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 110,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,169,370.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,848 shares of company stock valued at $16,635,227. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Microsoft from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Fundamental Research cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Microsoft from $320.00 to $340.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Microsoft from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Microsoft from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.28.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $321.18 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $292.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $262.43. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $213.43 and a twelve month high of $322.59.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $52.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.01 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.47%.

About Microsoft

(Get Rating)

Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.