New Century Financial Group LLC Sells 109 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

New Century Financial Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,382 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 109 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.0% of New Century Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% during the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth $3,314,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital boosted their target price 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. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $380.45 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $414.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $421.30. 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 company has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $376.91 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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 business posted $2.93 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

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.