Howland Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Howland Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 326,340 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 7,558 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 6.5% of Howland Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $122,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth $69,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 89.0% during the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $87,000. Cordant Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 647.8% in the fourth quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Family CFO Inc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 13.6% during the third quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.05.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $407.57 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $275.37 and a one year high of $430.82. 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 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. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $414.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $386.93.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid 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%.

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.