Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Trimmed by EMC Capital Management

EMC Capital Management cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 53.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,540 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,006 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.9% of EMC Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. EMC Capital Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the third quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,453,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. now owns 51,407 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 6.2% during the third quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 28,852 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,686 shares during the last quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 73,984 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,360,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aurora Private Wealth Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 38.8% in the third quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. now owns 5,264 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $412.32 on Friday. 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 50-day moving average of $413.90 and a 200-day moving average of $392.17. The firm has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.70, 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

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

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.