Sunbelt Securities Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lowered its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 38,881 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,514 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.8% of Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,378,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 189,809 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $79,856,000 after buying an additional 27,415 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 829 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Accel Wealth Management increased its position in Microsoft by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 7,047 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,965,000 after buying an additional 758 shares during the period. Finally, RBA Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.0% during the first quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,602 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,668,000 after buying an additional 983 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $426.89 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $425.43. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 24.75%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 over the last ninety days. 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.