Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd’s 2nd Largest Position

WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,241 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 11,000 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 14.4% of WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $41,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management increased its stake 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. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $141,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $513.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0%

MSFT opened at $450.18 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $403.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $414.03. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.