Putney Financial Group LLC Trims Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Putney Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,607 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 451 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.1% of Putney Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Putney Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,108,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $551.21.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $513.71 on Monday. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $483.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $431.57. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $518.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.