Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Cut by LifeSteps Financial Inc.

LifeSteps Financial Inc. lowered its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,693 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 481 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.2% of LifeSteps Financial Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. LifeSteps Financial Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp upgraded Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price target (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $609.86.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft 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 transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,743 shares of company stock worth $24,921,913. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5%

MSFT opened at $524.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.49, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a 50 day moving average of $494.34 and a 200-day moving average of $437.01. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. Equities 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 announced 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. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.