Mcdonald Partners LLC Sells 2,176 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Mcdonald Partners LLC reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,741 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,176 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 4.5% of Mcdonald Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Mcdonald Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $505.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft to $502.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Daiwa Securities Group lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.88.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $450.24 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $356.28 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $402.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $434.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia teased “a new era of PC,” with reports pointing to new Surface hardware and a possible AI-focused chip announcement at Computex, which could refresh the Windows/PC upgrade cycle. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft will unveil a new coding model and other in-house AI tools at next week’s Build conference reinforce the company’s AI monetization story and support sentiment around GitHub Copilot and Azure demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings backdrop remains solid, with revenue growth of 18.3% and better-than-expected EPS, helping investors justify the stock’s premium valuation.
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish writeups and analyst commentary say MSFT still has room to run because Azure, M365 cloud, and AI revenue are expanding faster than the broader software market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also drawing attention from investors, fund managers, and even congressional buyers, which supports the stock’s defensive-growth reputation but does not change fundamentals on its own.
• Negative Sentiment: A TechCrunch report says Microsoft is facing backlash for threatening a security researcher over unpatched bugs and code disclosure, adding some reputational noise ahead of Build. Article Title

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).