Vestcor Inc Sells 1,042 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Vestcor Inc cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 220,788 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,042 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.1% of Vestcor Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $93,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Microsoft from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.30.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $458.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $396.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $412.71. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 94,243 shares of company stock valued at $41,288,738. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.