Cedrus LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cedrus LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,764 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 806 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.1% of Cedrus LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Cedrus LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Security Advisor Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,255,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,497,000 after purchasing an additional 5,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $413.54 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $306.09 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $413.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $391.46. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

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.