Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Griffin Asset Management Inc.

Griffin Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,315 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,064 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.7% of Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after buying an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after buying an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% 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 worth $60,224,683 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $485.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. TD Securities upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank upped their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $538.04.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $505.62 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $474.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $427.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. 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 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $508.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced 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 return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

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.