New Millennium Group LLC Sells 17,181 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

New Millennium Group LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 37.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 28,859 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 17,181 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 7.1% of New Millennium Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. New Millennium Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Newton One Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 price target (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.14.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of MSFT opened at $503.32 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $470.64 and a 200 day moving average of $425.76. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $506.78. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.