Westend Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Westend Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 45.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,162 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 12,421 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 1.9% of Westend Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Westend Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,391,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. CGN Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 30,744 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,959,000 after buying an additional 4,238 shares in the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its stake in Microsoft by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 23,798 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,031,000 after buying an additional 4,846 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 74,752 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,508,000 after buying an additional 7,509 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 27,137 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,438,000 after buying an additional 3,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its stake in Microsoft by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 88,765 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $37,415,000 after buying an additional 3,590 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total transaction of $1,077,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 53,852 shares in the company, valued at $23,203,211.24. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 7,000 shares of company stock worth $3,070,340 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $397.12 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $420.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $422.73. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

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.