Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 291,317 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 7,121 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 5.8% of Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $109,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Family CFO Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 13.6% in the third quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Cordant Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $146,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $410.54 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $413.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $392.05. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $306.26 and a 1 year high of $430.82. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 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 $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

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.