D Orazio & Associates Inc. Sells 53 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

D Orazio & Associates Inc. cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,366 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 53 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.3% of D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,771,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew 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 worth $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $510.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $477.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $428.49. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $514.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm 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 business earned $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors 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 0.65%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.79.

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.