MSA Advisors LLC Sells 2,540 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

MSA Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 37,900 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,540 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 4.0% of MSA Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. MSA Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. United Bank grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 18,378 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,908,000 after acquiring an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RBO & Co. LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the third quarter. RBO & Co. LLC now owns 9,826 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,228,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 132,743 shares of company stock worth $58,835,683 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $461.97 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $410.44 and a 200-day moving average of $415.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.20, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Company 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.