Gould Asset Management LLC CA reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,879 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 141 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 0.7% of Gould Asset Management LLC CA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Gould Asset Management LLC CA’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 71.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $104,000. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 58.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 406 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Raymond James decreased their price target on Microsoft from $280.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Microsoft from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Microsoft from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Fundamental Research decreased their price target on Microsoft from $269.73 to $259.47 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group set a $250.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.58.
Microsoft Stock Performance
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $52.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.17 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 39.87% and a net margin of 33.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 30.22%.
Insider Activity at Microsoft
In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total value of $272,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,687,699.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total value of $272,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,687,699.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Microsoft Company Profile
Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.
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