Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Western Financial Corp CA

Western Financial Corp CA lowered its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 60.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 552 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 858 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $609.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $524.94 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $494.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $437.01. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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 is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

About Microsoft

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.