Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Decreased by Cubic Asset Management LLC

Cubic Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,397 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 921 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.8% of Cubic Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Cubic Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sicart Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC increased its stake 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 worth $692,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the third quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kaizen Financial Strategies boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 7,807 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,936,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

MSFT opened at $402.25 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $414.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $389.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.83, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $303.40 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price target (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Profile

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.