Wright Investors Service Inc. Decreases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wright Investors Service Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 24.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 38,428 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 12,149 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.3% of Wright Investors Service Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% during the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,763,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. NRI Wealth Management LC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $2,863,000. Finally, Fairbanks Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the second quarter. Fairbanks Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,610 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,295,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $408.25 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $425.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $422.69. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 2.20 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 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 anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were 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 directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.