Bridgeworth LLC Sells 250 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bridgeworth LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,783 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 250 shares during the period. Bridgeworth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,927,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 9.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,625,201,000. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Microsoft by 9.2% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,749,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796,956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,671,615 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,369,562,000 after purchasing an additional 88,583 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $406.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $303.40 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $413.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $390.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,025,258 shares of company stock valued at $12,160,356 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently 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.