Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by EWG Elevate Inc.

EWG Elevate Inc. cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,582 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 171 shares during the period. EWG Elevate Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Fortis Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 290,381 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $91,688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,358,937 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,060,584,000 after buying an additional 19,031 shares during the last quarter. STF Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56.5% during the third quarter. STF Management LP now owns 56,807 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,937,000 after buying an additional 20,515 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the third quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,862,884 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,851,213,000 after buying an additional 47,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the third quarter. Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 19,346 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,108,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $449.78 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $450.94. 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 capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $419.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $407.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.75 dividend. 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 presently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Citigroup raised their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

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.