Moseley Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Moseley Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,479 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 143 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.1% of Moseley Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Moseley Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $9,625,201,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three 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 $465.83.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $446.34 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $419.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $406.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.64, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $450.94.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Microsoft

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.