Nvest Financial LLC Sells 187 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Nvest Financial LLC reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,649 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 187 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.3% of Nvest Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Nvest Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of MSFT opened at $524.94 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.49, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $494.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $437.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. Microsoft’s 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 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. 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 note on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $609.86.

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.