Dopkins Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Dopkins Wealth Management LLC cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,300 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 374 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.8% of Dopkins Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Dopkins Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,172,349 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $504,462,000 after acquiring an additional 10,771 shares in the last quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.6% in the third quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC now owns 16,767 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,215,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares during the last quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the third quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,467 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,376,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. ROI Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. ROI Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,949 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,293,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 162,799 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $69,982,000 after buying an additional 4,161 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $429.03 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $429.32 and a 200 day moving average of $426.58. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. 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 0.77%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $512.93.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.