Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Lowered by Defender Capital LLC.

Defender Capital LLC. trimmed its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 20.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,686 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 709 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.4% of Defender Capital LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Defender Capital LLC.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,023,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first 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 last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $520.17 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $502.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $441.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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 company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,350 shares of company stock valued at $21,493,447 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment 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.com, Microsoft has an average 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.