StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. Cuts Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 13,383 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 31 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.2% of StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after buying an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.5%

Microsoft stock opened at $498.25 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $461.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $423.57. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $500.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.50, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $524.71.

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.