Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Cut by Biltmore Family Office LLC

Biltmore Family Office LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,027 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 379 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.3% of Biltmore Family Office LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Biltmore Family Office LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,921,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management increased its stake in Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $120,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Raymond James boosted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $513.59.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6%

MSFT stock opened at $470.38 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $473.34. The business’s 50-day moving average is $417.20 and its 200 day moving average is $416.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

Microsoft 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.