Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Wallington Asset Management LLC

Wallington Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,705 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,318 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 5.8% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $40,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CGN Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 4,238 shares during the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 4,846 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 7,509 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 27,137 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,438,000 after buying an additional 3,865 shares during the period. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 88,765 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $37,415,000 after buying an additional 3,590 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total value of $1,077,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,203,211.24. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 7,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,070,340. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $397.12 on Friday. 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. 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 $420.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $422.73. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.