GPM Growth Investors Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

GPM Growth Investors Inc. lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,497 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 388 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 8.1% of GPM Growth Investors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. GPM Growth Investors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV now owns 20,919 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,817,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,165,000. First Business Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 18,548 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,818,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 269,134 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,440,000 after purchasing an additional 7,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,127,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. TD Securities raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.77.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $438.73 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $389.19 and a 200 day moving average of $411.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

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.