Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Howard Capital Management Group LLC

Howard Capital Management Group LLC decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 194,293 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 325 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 5.6% of Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $81,895,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Beck Bode LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 37.3% in the 2nd quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 39,951 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,856,000 after purchasing an additional 10,847 shares during the last quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 7,062 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,156,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kowal Investment Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 17,848 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,977,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $393.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.67, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $381.00 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $416.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $421.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.