Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc.

Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,496 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 111 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.6% of Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,375,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four 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, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $541.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $510.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $514.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $477.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $428.49. 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 posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend yield of 0.65%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.