Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 96,197 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,340 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 5.6% of Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $23,081,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $61,000. 69.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Microsoft from $295.00 to $337.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Fundamental Research lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. 888 restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Microsoft from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Microsoft from $307.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $322.88.
Microsoft Price Performance
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.01 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.25% and a return on equity of 38.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 29.47%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total transaction of $1,550,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 110,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,169,370.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total transaction of $1,550,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 110,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,169,370.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total value of $9,182,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,767 shares of company stock valued at $12,461,061. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Microsoft 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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