Stonehearth Capital Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Stonehearth Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 26.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 491 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 178 shares during the period. Stonehearth Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 2,663 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,594,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $646,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Sicart Associates LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,592 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $599,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price objective for the company. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $465.83.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $446.34 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $419.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $406.10. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $309.45 and a 52 week high of $450.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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