Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC

Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,404 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.5% of Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Rebalance LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,594,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $646,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,609,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Doheny Asset Management CA increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 6,397 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,691,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. New Street Research began coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.72.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $430.81 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $421.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $423.78. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.30, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $309.45 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by 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.