Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Cut by Strategic Financial Concepts LLC

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 55.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,307 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,877 shares during the quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $867,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.3% in the third quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,256 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $712,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Sonen Capital LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. Sonen Capital LLC now owns 10,132 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.3% in the third quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. now owns 937 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Noble Family Wealth LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.3% in the third quarter. Noble Family Wealth LLC now owns 2,331 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $736,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Connor Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $692,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price 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. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $435.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $430.52.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $421.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $275.37 and a 12-month high of $430.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $415.19 and a 200-day moving average of $382.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.12%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.