Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Provident Trust Co.

Posted by Defense World Staff on Aug 12th, 2023

Provident Trust Co. decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,764 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 240 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 0.1% of Provident Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Provident Trust Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,527,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $351,001,000 after acquiring an additional 196,338 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Atlantic Securities upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Credit Suisse Group boosted their target price on Microsoft from $350.00 to $420.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 31st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Microsoft from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $310.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $373.68.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $321.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $336.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $300.20. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $366.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 34.15% and a return on equity of 38.70%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 10.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Shareholders 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 0.85%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 28.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total value of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,081 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.54, for a total transaction of $1,588,015.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 94,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,481,273.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 61,331 shares of company stock valued at $20,450,828. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Profile

(Free Report)

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.