Sather Financial Group Inc Reduces Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sather Financial Group Inc lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 248,089 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,368 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 6.9% of Sather Financial Group Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Sather Financial Group Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $93,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $87,000. Family CFO Inc boosted 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 worth $113,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 647.8% during the fourth quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $146,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,025,258 shares of company stock worth $12,160,356. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $406.66 on Friday. 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 50 day simple moving average of $413.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $390.05. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $303.40 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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 business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

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.