Stolper Co Sells 113 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Stolper Co decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,187 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 113 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.3% of Stolper Co’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Stolper Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $45,000. Avondale Wealth Management raised its position in Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $397.90 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $423.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $423.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.04, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total value of $874,640.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 51,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,675,916.64. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,000 shares of company stock worth $3,070,340. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.