Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Guild Investment Management Inc.

Guild Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,196 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 220 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.5% of Guild Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Guild Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 71.4% in the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,000. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. 888 reiterated a “maintains” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.28.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $308.97 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 1.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average is $284.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $258.65. 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 results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.25% and a return on equity of 38.98%. The business had revenue of $52.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.70, for a total transaction of $1,543,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 105,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,477,092.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total value of $9,182,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.70, for a total transaction of $1,543,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 105,206 shares in the company, valued at $32,477,092.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 44,767 shares of company stock valued at $13,462,861 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Microsoft

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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.