Graves Light Lenhart Wealth Inc. Sells 423 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Graves Light Lenhart Wealth Inc. reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,715 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 423 shares during the quarter. Graves Light Lenhart Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP increased its position in Microsoft by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,763,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Welch Capital Partners LLC NY increased its position in Microsoft by 51.2% during the 2nd quarter. Welch Capital Partners LLC NY now owns 3,137 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares during the period. Finally, Cowen AND Company LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 836.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cowen AND Company LLC now owns 46,617 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,835,000 after purchasing an additional 41,639 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9 %

Microsoft stock opened at $408.25 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $425.20 and a 200 day moving average of $422.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter last year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total transaction of $423,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,931,278.28. This trade represents a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,493,820 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus 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.