Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Has $28.75 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,202 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 323 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 8.8% of Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $28,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Avondale Wealth Management increased its holdings in Microsoft by 144.4% in 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 during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $452.57 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $399.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $413.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.44, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.63.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were 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 owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,243 shares of company stock worth $48,619,618 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.