Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV Lowers Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV lessened its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,702 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 647 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 0.7% of Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% during the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its stake in Microsoft by 20.8% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $351,001,000 after buying an additional 196,338 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Powell Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $795,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,921,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $423.34.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the 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 owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $421.43 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $409.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $373.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.10, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $272.05 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.12%.

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.