First City Capital Management Inc. Has $7.56 Million Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

First City Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 22.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,127 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 5,915 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 4.5% of First City Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% 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 worth $60,224,683 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MSFT. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price target (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $524.71.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $498.25 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $461.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $423.48. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $500.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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