Royal Fund Management LLC Sells 29,255 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Royal Fund Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 44.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,880 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 29,255 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.5% of Royal Fund Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. Avondale Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $393.31 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $381.00 and a one year high of $468.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $416.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $421.87.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.