Renaissance Investment Group LLC Sells 1,810 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 21st, 2023

Renaissance Investment Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,955 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,810 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.9% of Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. now owns 3,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $898,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Providence First Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Providence First Trust Co now owns 1,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the first quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,127,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Lokken Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Lokken Investment Group LLC now owns 11,976 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,076,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Denver Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,348 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $338.05 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 1.91. The firm has a market cap of $2.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $314.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $275.74. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $213.43 and a 52 week high of $351.47.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $52.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.01 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 29.47%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.70, for a total transaction of $1,543,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 105,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,477,092.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the executive vice president now 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. Insiders sold a total of 51,331 shares of company stock worth $15,867,278 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Citigroup upped their target price on Microsoft from $332.00 to $340.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Microsoft from $280.00 to $322.00 in a report on Monday, April 24th. Barclays upped their target price on Microsoft from $310.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Macquarie raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $260.00 to $325.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on Microsoft from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.23.

About Microsoft

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Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.