Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Cut by Peterson Financial Group Inc.

Posted by on May 17th, 2023

Peterson Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 76.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,726 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 24,703 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.6% of Peterson Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Peterson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,853,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 71.4% during the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Microsoft from $332.00 to $340.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Microsoft from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Microsoft from $320.00 to $340.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.28.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.7 %

Microsoft stock opened at $311.74 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $213.43 and a twelve month high of $313.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.77, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $286.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $259.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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