Northstar Advisory Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Northstar Advisory Group LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 30.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 19,765 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 8,462 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 4.2% of Northstar Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Northstar Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the second 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 in the last quarter. tru Independence LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the second quarter. tru Independence LLC now owns 11,253 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,030,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. Finally, Bowie Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 26.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bowie Capital Management LLC now owns 255,940 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $114,392,000 after acquiring an additional 53,758 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total transaction of $423,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,931,278.28. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $416.13 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.50, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $425.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $422.79.

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, beating 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 last year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. 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.