Wedmont Private Capital Has $8.83 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 79.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,274 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,402 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.3% of Wedmont Private Capital’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,893,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Financial Advisors Network Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 3,482 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $894,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Rovin Capital UT ADV increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 3,747 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Fountainhead AM LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC now owns 4,196 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MSFT. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $300.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $296.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $315.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.05.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $279.43 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $213.43 and a 52-week high of $315.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.93. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $252.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $245.43.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.17 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.05% and a return on equity of 39.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.48 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total transaction of $272,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 116,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,687,699.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Microsoft

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.