Vista Investment Partners LLC Sells 1,580 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Vista Investment Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,529 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,580 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.4% of Vista Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Vista Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $510.06 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $477.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $428.61. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $514.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $494.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Bank of America increased their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $543.79.

Microsoft Company 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.