Wealthgarden F.S. LLC Sells 260,784 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wealthgarden F.S. LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 98.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,958 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 260,784 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.2% of Wealthgarden F.S. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Wealthgarden F.S. LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,322,513,000 after purchasing an additional 652,493 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.3% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 27,904,450 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,007,285,000 after purchasing an additional 636,713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $435.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.89.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $391.16 on Tuesday. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $384.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $411.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

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.