Warther Private Wealth LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Warther Private Wealth LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 45.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,861 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,204 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.3% of Warther Private Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Warther Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted 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 valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,375,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $581.00 target price (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $541.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $510.05 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $477.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $428.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. The firm’s 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.