Dentgroup LLC Has $267,000 Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Dentgroup LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 26.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 635 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 230 shares during the quarter. Dentgroup LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 7.1% in the first quarter. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 38,428 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,168,000 after purchasing an additional 2,535 shares in the last quarter. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,290 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $543,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. McAlister Sweet & Associates Inc. now owns 10,460 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,401,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 106.7% during the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 6,700 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,819,000 after purchasing an additional 3,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at $175,716,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. New Street Research assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price target for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $465.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,686,433. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.5 %

MSFT opened at $446.34 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $419.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $406.10. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $450.94. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.