Evermay Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Evermay Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,115 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 591 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.2% of Evermay Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Evermay Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during 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 in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,204,664,000 after buying an additional 49,735 shares during the period. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 44,685 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,228,000 after buying an additional 3,663 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 16,731 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,199,000 after buying an additional 1,430 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $389.97 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $376.91 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $407.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $419.45. 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 released its 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 net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 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.