MFA Wealth Services Has $1.84 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

MFA Wealth Services decreased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,900 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 252 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.5% of MFA Wealth Services’ holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. MFA Wealth Services’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,839,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fosun International Ltd raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,490,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,368,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of 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 increased their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price objective (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $538.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a 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 on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% 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

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $511.70 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $476.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $427.88. The stock has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.54, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $513.37. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business 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%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

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.