Phocas Financial Corp. Lowers Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 22nd, 2023

Phocas Financial Corp. trimmed its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,225 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 640 shares during the quarter. Phocas Financial Corp.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 71.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $104,000. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $82,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 58.6% during the 3rd quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 406 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Microsoft from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Guggenheim cut Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $212.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group set a $285.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total transaction of $269,380.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 117,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,614,975.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total value of $269,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 117,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,614,975.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $273.78 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s 50 day moving average is $254.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $213.43 and a 12-month high of $315.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.17 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 39.87% and a net margin of 33.05%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.48 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.22%.

Microsoft Company Profile

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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.