Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc.

McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 44,154 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 229 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.1% of McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,999,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Microsoft by 62.0% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,612,000 after acquiring an additional 43,327 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,152,072 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,746,860,000 after acquiring an additional 499,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 9,414 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,961,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $504.36.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total value of $7,157,129.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 150,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,843,807.85. This trade represents a 10.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 98,578 shares of company stock worth $40,553,696. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $442.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $421.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $364.13 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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

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.