Essex Private Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Essex Private Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 19.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,233 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 305 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.4% of Essex Private Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Essex Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $464,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,453,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Avity Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 117,111 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,978,000 after buying an additional 5,641 shares during the period. Wagner Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 11,439 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,612,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the period. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 4,218 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 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. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3 %

Microsoft stock opened at $410.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $306.26 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The company has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $413.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $392.05.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

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.