Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Lowers Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,314 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 41 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 0.5% of Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,818,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BNC Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. BNC Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,109 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,641,000 after buying an additional 1,231 shares during the period. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 13,516 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,697,000 after buying an additional 847 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC now owns 19,869 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,375,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Bowman & Co S.C. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. now owns 14,365 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,057,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 43,462 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total value of $874,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 51,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,675,916.64. The trade was a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $388.49 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $419.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced 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 net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

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.