Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Sentry LLC

Sentry LLC trimmed its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,857 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,899 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.2% of Sentry LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Sentry LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Busey Bank raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Busey Bank now owns 477,328 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $201,194,000 after acquiring an additional 5,288 shares in the last quarter. Stordahl Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Stordahl Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,909 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 13,872 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,847,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. DMC Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 8,947 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,771,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abel Hall LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 8,434 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,555,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $391.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $408.82 and its 200-day moving average is $419.67. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $376.91 and a one year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter last year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

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.