New Century Financial Group LLC Has $1.09 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

New Century Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 82.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,907 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 13,475 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.3% of New Century Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.0%

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

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced 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 company 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 earned $2.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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 payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. UBS Group restated a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $538.04.

About Microsoft

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.