Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Dearborn Partners LLC

Dearborn Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 263,124 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 5,962 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.5% of Dearborn Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $63,102,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 71.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total transaction of $272,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 116,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,687,699.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total transaction of $272,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 116,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,687,699.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 45,767 shares of company stock valued at $13,735,181. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $290.00 to $348.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $295.00 to $337.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $340.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $330.00 to $350.00 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 given a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.28.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $308.97 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $284.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $258.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.93. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $213.43 and a 1-year high of $313.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.01 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.25% and a return on equity of 38.98%. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.22 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.47%.

Microsoft Company Profile

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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.