Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Souders Financial Advisors

Souders Financial Advisors lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,653 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 395 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.8% of Souders Financial Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Souders Financial Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,625,201,000. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,749,275,000 after buying an additional 1,796,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,671,615 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,369,562,000 after buying an additional 88,583 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

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

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $402.25 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $414.45 and a 200-day moving average of $389.01. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $303.40 and a 52-week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

About Microsoft

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.