Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Trims Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,730 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 745 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 8.3% of Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $33,965,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 2,663 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $646,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sicart Associates LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $446.95 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $424.11 and a 200 day moving average of $409.66. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $309.45 and a 52 week high of $456.17. 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 38.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued 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 $467.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 worth $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.