Joule Financial LLC Sells 275 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Joule Financial LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,339 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 275 shares during the period. Joule Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $878,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fosun International Ltd grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,335,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $498.25 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $500.76. The company has a market cap 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 current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $461.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $423.48.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.