Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Lessened by Edge Wealth Management LLC

Edge Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 81,469 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,362 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 7.0% of Edge Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Edge Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $34,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Salvus Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,134 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,850,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 14,622 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,163,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,803 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,347,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Seaside Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Seaside Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,157 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC now owns 13,009 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,483,000 after acquiring an additional 567 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total transaction of $1,077,175.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,203,211.24. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,000 shares of company stock worth $3,070,340. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.8 %

MSFT opened at $392.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $422.79.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 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. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

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.