Franchise Capital Ltd Sells 510 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Franchise Capital Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,180 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 510 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.2% of Franchise Capital Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Franchise Capital Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,763,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. New World Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. New World Advisors LLC now owns 7,006 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,131,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PACK Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $408.43 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $428.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $422.94. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

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.