Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC Sells 123 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,021 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 123 shares during the quarter. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Fortis Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.3% in the second quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 295,313 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $131,990,000 after purchasing an additional 6,659 shares during the last quarter. Security Financial Services INC. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Security Financial Services INC. now owns 5,634 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,518,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. now owns 54,555 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $24,384,000 after buying an additional 3,025 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 17,648 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,888,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Busey Bank grew its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the second quarter. Busey Bank now owns 466,753 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $208,615,000 after acquiring an additional 3,631 shares in the last quarter. 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 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.94.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $433.51 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $420.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.50. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.22 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

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.