XXEC Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

XXEC Inc. lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 31,474 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,985 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 9.3% of XXEC Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. XXEC Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 89.0% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth about $87,000. Family CFO Inc grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Cordant Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $146,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $402.25 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.83, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $414.45 and a 200-day moving average of $389.01. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $303.40 and a 1-year high of $430.82.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. 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. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.