Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC Reduces Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 51.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,095 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 22,261 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 4.0% of Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Capital Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,592 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,769,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 80.9% during the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 31,414 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,813,000 after acquiring an additional 14,046 shares during the last quarter. Davis Rea LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Davis Rea LTD. now owns 43,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,523,000 after acquiring an additional 3,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,078,252 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,657,795,000 after acquiring an additional 221,223 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $402.25 on Tuesday. The stock 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 fifty-two week low of $303.40 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $414.45 and a 200 day moving average of $389.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Macquarie raised their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup cut their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related 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 transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 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 directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Microsoft

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.