Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,152 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,538 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.0% of Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,110,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northside Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC now owns 32,763 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $13,810,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $497.45 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $446.90 and its 200 day moving average is $421.75. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $498.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.44, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson raised their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 price target (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $521.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction 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 approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale 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 stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is 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.