Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by White Pine Investment CO

White Pine Investment CO lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,452 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 449 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.9% of White Pine Investment CO’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. White Pine Investment CO’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fosun International Ltd boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Point Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price target (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp upgraded Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays raised their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $527.75 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $492.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $436.40. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. 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 given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.