Tufton Capital Management Sells 1,443 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 24th, 2023

Tufton Capital Management lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 85,354 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,443 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 4.5% of Tufton Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 71.4% in the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total transaction of $269,380.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 117,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,614,975.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were 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 directly owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 117,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,614,975.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,767 shares of company stock valued at $1,728,111 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $285.76 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $213.43 and a one year high of $294.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $270.90 and a 200-day moving average of $251.60. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.93.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.05% and a return on equity of 39.87%. The company had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 9.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $305.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. StockNews.com began coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Fundamental Research lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $269.73 to $259.47 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $280.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $298.74.

Microsoft 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.