HMV Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

HMV Wealth Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 13.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,965 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 634 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.2% of HMV Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. HMV Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 50.0% during the first 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 acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $505.62 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.07, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $474.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $427.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $508.30.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $581.00 target price (up from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $538.04.

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.