United Capital Management of KS Inc. Cuts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

United Capital Management of KS Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,348 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,313 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.3% of United Capital Management of KS Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. United Capital Management of KS Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $200,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.6 %

MSFT opened at $426.31 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $429.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.72. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $384.81 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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