JLB & Associates Inc. Sells 1,878 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

JLB & Associates Inc. reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 65,711 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,878 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 3.4% of JLB & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. JLB & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $24,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fosun International Ltd raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC raised its position 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 worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel raised its position 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 worth $1,385,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,368,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Barclays lifted their target price on Microsoft from $494.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $543.79.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of MSFT opened at $510.06 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $477.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $428.61. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $514.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results 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 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 was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.