Holland Advisory Services Inc. Has $1.09 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Holland Advisory Services Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 28.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,585 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,023 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.4% of Holland Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Holland Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BCK Partners Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 6,986 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,108,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 2,997 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequent Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $853,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $397.12 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $420.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $422.73.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.84%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total value of $1,077,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 53,852 shares in the company, valued at $23,203,211.24. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 7,000 shares of company stock worth $3,070,340 in the last three months. 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.