Herald Investment Management Ltd Sells 2,445 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Herald Investment Management Ltd reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,300 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,445 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.8% of Herald Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Herald Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,080,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,496,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $860,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $457,119,000 after purchasing an additional 33,382 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 39.3% in the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $54,376,000 after purchasing an additional 40,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,930,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Arete increased their target price on Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $626.58.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.0%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $542.07 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $512.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $484.58. The stock has a market cap of $4.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.