Hillcrest Wealth Advisors NY LLC Lowers Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Hillcrest Wealth Advisors NY LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 819 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 40 shares during the period. Hillcrest Wealth Advisors NY LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after purchasing an additional 6,129,708 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,824,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,554 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 200,523,373 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,810,889,000 after buying an additional 1,537,712 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $50,302,677,000 after buying an additional 556,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 112,158.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,017,948,000 after purchasing an additional 150,053,637 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at $64,941,369.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $385.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $432.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $398.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 20th. Finally, Loop Capital began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $384.45.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

MSFT opened at $370.27 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $333.80 and its 200-day moving average is $330.55. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $219.35 and a 1-year high of $371.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $2.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.84, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.88.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.34. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.31% and a return on equity of 38.79%. The firm had revenue of $56.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.04%.

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.