Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Davis Investment Partners LLC

Davis Investment Partners LLC cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,895 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 275 shares during the period. Davis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fosun International Ltd boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% in 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 period. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,368,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 price objective (up previously from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.14.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $503.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $471.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $506.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 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 analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.