Palumbo Wealth Management LLC Sells 518 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Palumbo Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,456 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 518 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.8% of Palumbo Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 82,267 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,976,000 after buying an additional 3,209 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% in the third quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,497,000 after buying an additional 5,366 shares during the last quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,967,000 after buying an additional 6,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its holdings in Microsoft by 7.7% in the third quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,471 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,516,000 after buying an additional 1,245 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $432.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $399.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $414.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $384.83. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $275.37 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft 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.