Helen Stephens Group LLC Has $1.89 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Helen Stephens Group LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,477 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 122 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.6% of Helen Stephens Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Helen Stephens Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Defined Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Defined Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,716 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $230,000. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 62,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $26,217,000 after purchasing an additional 3,869 shares during the last quarter. 25 LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. 25 LLC now owns 2,667 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sax Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 28,755 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,990 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $397.12 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $420.68 and its 200 day moving average is $422.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.97, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 7,000 shares of company stock worth $3,070,340 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft 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.