Liberty One Investment Management LLC Decreases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Liberty One Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,513 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 573 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.9% of Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $23,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Sicart Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,592 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $599,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Triton Wealth Management PLLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Triton Wealth Management PLLC now owns 5,864 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,167,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Connor Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $692,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $406.66 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $303.40 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $413.68 and a 200 day moving average of $390.88.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Macquarie upped their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

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.