Columbia Advisory Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Columbia Advisory Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,728 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 318 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.1% of Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in Microsoft by 35.7% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $45,000. Avondale Wealth Management increased its holdings in Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $141,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $408.25 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $425.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $422.69.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total transaction of $1,077,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,203,211.24. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,493,820 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

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.