Fourpath Capital Management LLC Reduces Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Fourpath Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,282 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 649 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.0% of Fourpath Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Fourpath Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,743,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $501.48 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $469.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.75, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $506.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the 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 directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays raised their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.14.

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.