Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc.

A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,728 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 412 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.8% of A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,150,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $524.71.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of MSFT opened at $498.25 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $500.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $461.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $423.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.