Lockerman Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Lockerman Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,154 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 31 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.4% of Lockerman Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Lockerman Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,559,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $581.00 target price (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $510.05 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $477.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $428.49. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $514.64. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04.

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 return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

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.