Astra Wealth Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Astra Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,052 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,286,000. Microsoft comprises 1.2% of Astra Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 8,749 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,688,000 after buying an additional 972 shares during the last quarter. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $266,000. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 2,740 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Resolute Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 258.3% during the 4th quarter. Resolute Advisors LLC now owns 6,568 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,768,000 after buying an additional 4,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yoffe Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,105,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $472.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $419.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $417.09. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $473.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $513.59.

Microsoft Company Profile

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.