Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. Sells 22,400 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 17th, 2023

Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. lowered its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 595,700 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 22,400 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.8% of Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $142,861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Microsoft from $307.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Microsoft from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Cowen lowered their target price on Microsoft from $285.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Microsoft from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on Microsoft from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.28.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total transaction of $9,182,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 44,767 shares of company stock worth $13,462,861. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.7 %

MSFT opened at $311.74 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.93. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $213.43 and a 12 month high of $313.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $286.94 and a 200 day moving average of $259.77.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. The company had revenue of $52.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.47%.

About Microsoft

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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.