Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Golden Road Advisors LLC

Golden Road Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,808 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 189 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 0.6% of Golden Road Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Golden Road Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 241.4% in the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group upped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $421.50 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $428.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $428.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $366.50 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.