Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Windsor Advisory Group LLC

Windsor Advisory Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 49.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,330 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,304 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.6% of Windsor Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Windsor Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after buying an additional 6,129,708 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,824,173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951,554 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares during 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 purchasing an additional 556,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the fourth 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 last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $432.13.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $404.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $275.37 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $415.29 and a 200 day moving average of $384.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.32 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

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.