Clay Northam Wealth Management LLC Has $5.30 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Clay Northam Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,104 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 60 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 4.7% of Clay Northam Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Clay Northam Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. FMR LLC raised 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 valued at $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $679,928,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Microsoft by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,749,275,000 after buying an additional 1,796,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 243.6% in the 3rd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,151,555 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $679,353,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525,367 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $407.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $275.37 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $414.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $386.93.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 have sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $434.05.

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.