Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $16.79 Million Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 39,170 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $16,787,000. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.4% of Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,322,513,000 after purchasing an additional 652,493 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,767,000 after purchasing an additional 97,075 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 34,000 shares of company stock worth $14,333,540. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $409.04 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $430.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $423.24. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

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.