Barrett & Company Inc. Lowers Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Barrett & Company Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,197 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.1% of Barrett & Company Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Barrett & Company Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,834,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.7% during the third quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its position in Microsoft by 25.3% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 67,307 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,252,000 after purchasing an additional 13,586 shares during the last quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,958 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,144,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 108,149 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $34,495,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $402.25 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $414.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $389.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.83, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $303.40 and a one year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft 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 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 price target (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

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.