Systematic Alpha Investments LLC Sells 8,700 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Systematic Alpha Investments LLC reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 245,702 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 8,700 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.0% of Systematic Alpha Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Systematic Alpha Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $58,924,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. 69.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $315.26 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $213.43 and a 1-year high of $322.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $293.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $263.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. The business had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 29.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $340.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Atlantic Securities upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $295.00 to $337.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.87, for a total transaction of $1,584,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 89,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,305,363.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,848 shares of company stock worth $16,635,227. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.