Byrne Asset Management LLC Lowers Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Byrne Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,241 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 46 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 6.0% of Byrne Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Byrne Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group restated a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 30th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $538.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% 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 corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $511.70 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $476.35 and a 200-day moving average of $427.88. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $513.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.