Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,843 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 122 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.6% of Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sicart Associates LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. High Pines Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the third quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,256 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $712,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Sonen Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. Sonen Capital LLC now owns 10,132 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Perritt Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% in the third quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. now owns 937 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $404.27 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $415.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $384.29. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $275.37 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.55, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $432.13.

Microsoft Company 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.