GoalVest Advisory LLC Trims Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

GoalVest Advisory LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 45.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,874 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,104 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.7% of GoalVest Advisory LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 71.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $82,000. Avondale Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 58.6% during the 3rd quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 406 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 57.5% during the 3rd quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 411 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was 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 directly 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 available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was 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 directly 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 available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total value of $269,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 117,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,614,975.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $279.43 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $252.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $245.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.05, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $213.43 and a 1-year high of $315.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.17 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 39.87% and a net margin of 33.05%. The company’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict 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 (DPR) is 30.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $305.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on Microsoft from $285.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Wedbush boosted their price target on Microsoft from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Microsoft from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Microsoft from $296.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. One equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.05.

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.