Northwest Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Northwest Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,483 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 203 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 0.9% of Northwest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Northwest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after acquiring an additional 18,544 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three investment 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, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $426.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $384.81 and a 12 month high of $468.35. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $429.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $426.72.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Microsoft Company 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.