D Orazio & Associates Inc. Lowers Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

D Orazio & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,366 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 53 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.3% of D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,771,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised 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 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $510.05 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $477.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $428.49. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $514.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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 net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays increased 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $541.79.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.