Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is NovaPoint Capital LLC’s 5th Largest Position

NovaPoint Capital LLC lessened its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,980 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 311 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.8% of NovaPoint Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. NovaPoint Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 35,465.9% during the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $66,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,553,188 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $147,714,197,000 after buying an additional 6,129,708 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 13.8% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 30,893,155 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,524,669,000 after acquiring an additional 3,757,500 shares in the last quarter. Cottage Street Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 17,734.7% in the 4th quarter. Cottage Street Advisors LLC now owns 3,763,300 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 3,742,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 73.8% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 8,172,257 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,903,319,000 after acquiring an additional 3,471,095 shares during the last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.87, for a total transaction of $1,584,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 89,328 shares in the company, valued at $28,305,363.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,848 shares of company stock worth $16,635,227. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4 %

Microsoft stock opened at $313.85 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.93. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $322.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $294.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $263.44.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.25% and a return on equity of 38.98%. The firm had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Microsoft from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Atlantic Securities lifted their target price on Microsoft from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Wedbush upped their target price on Microsoft from $325.00 to $340.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Microsoft from $280.00 to $322.00 in a research report on Monday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. One investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.69.

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.