Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 11,827 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lessened its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 0.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,182,881 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 11,827 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.9% of Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $741,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% in the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,422,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Microsoft by 20.8% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $351,001,000 after purchasing an additional 196,338 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% in the first 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $253.92 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $213.43 and a 12-month high of $315.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $248.99 and a 200-day moving average of $245.14.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $315.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $310.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $305.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Wedbush upped their target price on Microsoft from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $247.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.58.

Microsoft Profile

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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.