Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Reduced by Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc

Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,770 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 101 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 9.4% of Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,427,989 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $536,053,000 after purchasing an additional 7,494 shares in the last quarter. GGM Financials LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. OLIO Financial Planning lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. OLIO Financial Planning now owns 1,294 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $486,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Seneca House Advisors lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Seneca House Advisors now owns 30,784 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,556,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stokes Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 39,384 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,784,000 after acquiring an additional 982 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $498.25 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $461.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $423.48. 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 Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $500.76.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 23rd. TD Securities upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Five 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.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $524.71.

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.