Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. Sells 9,153 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 79.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,387 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,153 shares during the period. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,256 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $712,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Sonen Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the third quarter. Sonen Capital LLC now owns 10,132 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% during the third quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. now owns 937 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Noble Family Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the third quarter. Noble Family Wealth LLC now owns 2,331 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $736,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Connor Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $692,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $426.28 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $413.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $380.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $275.37 and a 12 month high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Macquarie upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, KeyCorp assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $425.52.

Microsoft Company 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.