Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Sells 5,559 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 144,698 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 5,559 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.6% of Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $54,412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 89.0% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at $87,000. Family CFO Inc grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 13.6% in the third quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Cordant Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 647.8% in the 4th quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $146,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 price target (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. 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 company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $409.34 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $413.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $392.05. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $306.09 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.44, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

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.