Guardian Investment Management Sells 2,271 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Guardian Investment Management cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 19.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,494 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,271 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.9% of Guardian Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Guardian Investment Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,496,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,345,000 after buying an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 147.9% in the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $737,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intellus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $16,075,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $609.86.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,350 shares of company stock worth $21,493,447 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $520.17 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $502.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $441.02. The company has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.