Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by WD Rutherford LLC

WD Rutherford LLC lessened its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,909 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 291 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.4% of WD Rutherford LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. WD Rutherford LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,522,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group restated a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $543.79.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was 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 directly owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $510.06 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $477.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $428.61. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $514.64.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. 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 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.