World Equity Group Inc. Sells 38,938 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

World Equity Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 49.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,176 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 38,938 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 5.2% of World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,510,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $563,000. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 163,875 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $61,624,000 after acquiring an additional 7,066 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 57,186 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,504,000 after acquiring an additional 999 shares during the period. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 11,228 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,222,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Roth Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 118.8% in the 4th quarter. Roth Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 594 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.72.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $431.34 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $422.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $423.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.