Wintrust Investments LLC Sells 246 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wintrust Investments LLC lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,998 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 246 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.6% of Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,950,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 5,975 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,518,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 894,858 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $370,980,000 after acquiring an additional 75,262 shares during the period. Telemark Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC now owns 30,000 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,645,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Tredje AP fonden raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Tredje AP fonden now owns 1,894,400 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $798,490,000 after acquiring an additional 63,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 81.3% in the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 440,815 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $185,819,000 after acquiring an additional 197,740 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.30.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $458.87 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $396.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $412.71. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.95, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 94,243 shares of company stock worth $41,288,738 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.